Expelled CPM leader PK Sasi to contest as independent in Ottappalam; UDF likely to back him
He will take on CPM sitting MLA Adv K Premakumar in the constituency.
He will take on CPM sitting MLA Adv K Premakumar in the constituency.
He will take on CPM sitting MLA Adv K Premakumar in the constituency.
Ottappalam: Former CPM MLA PK Sasi, who was recently expelled from the party, will contest as an independent candidate from the Ottappalam constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Marxist Janadhipathya Koottayma, an association of members who quit the CPM, on Wednesday announced that Sasi will be fielded as a UDF-backed independent candidate.
However, the Congress-led front has yet to make an official announcement on this. According to reports, Sasi will launch his election campaign with a roadshow on Thursday. It is learnt that he has already started visiting voters in Ottappalam. He will take on CPM sitting MLA Adv K Premakumar in the constituency.
Sasi, who was accused of sexually harassing a woman member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), might have been encouraged by the UDF's move to back CPM rebel members. In Payyannur, the front extended its support to CPM whistleblower V Kunhikrishnan and appealed to its ally, the RSP, to give up the seat.
The assembly elections in Kerala will be held on April 9, and the results will be declared on May 4.
Sasi was expelled from the party after he allegedly made disparaging remarks against the district leadership at a rebel convention in Palakkad on March 5.
He had remained largely aloof from the party after being stripped of various posts. He also skipped the LDF’s ‘Vikasana Munnetta Jatha’ in Palakkad and recently stepped down as chairman of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, signalling a widening rift with the party leadership.