Three-time former MLA of the CPI(M) P Aisha Potty joined the Congress party on Tuesday, giving it a much-needed boost in the Left stronghold of Kollam district.
Potty, who represented Kottarakkara in the state Assembly as a CPI(M) MLA between 2006 and 2021, had been keeping away from party activities after she was dropped as a candidate in 2021 and removed from the Kottarakkara area committee of the party. KN Balagopal, who replaced Potty as the party candidate in Kottarakkara in the 2021 elections, won and went on to become the state finance minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led cabinet.
Potty was handed the membership card on Tuesday by state Congress president Sunny Joseph. She also participated in the party’s day-night protest against the renaming of the MGNREGA scheme and dilution of its provisions by the Centre.
After her joining of the Congress, Potty claimed that CPI(M) was no longer the party it used to be. “I realised that I no longer had the space to work in that party. There will be criticism that I am a class traitor. But I am not bothered,” she said.