In a setback to the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala ahead of the Assembly elections, senior party leader and three-time Kottarakkara MLA Aisha Potty joined the Congress on Tuesday. She accepted Congress membership from KPCC president Sunny Joseph at the venue of a day-and-night protest organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in front of the Lok Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.
Aisha Potty had been keeping a distance from the CPI(M) for some time. Ahead of the local body elections, there were rumours that she would join the Congress. She is reportedly set to be the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate for the Kottarakkara constituency, a seat she represented for 15 consecutive years and which is currently held by Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal. The CPI(M) had fielded Balagopal from the constituency in 2021 after denying Potty a ticket.
Potty had emerged as a “giant killer” for the CPI(M) in the 2006 Assembly elections when she defeated prominent Kerala Congress (B) veteran R. Balakrishna Pillai on his home turf of Kottarakkara. Pillai had held the seat almost uninterrupted since 1977, and her victory was considered one of the biggest upsets in Kerala’s political history. In the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections, Potty retained the seat for the CPI(M).
Addressing the media following her induction into the Congress, a visibly emotional Potty revealed that she had faced significant hardships within the CPI(M). She said that during her tenure as an MLA, she never relied on public relations campaigns or image-building exercises. Anticipating backlash from the Left, she remarked, “I am prepared to be called a vargavanchaka (class traitor) by those I left behind, but my priority is to continue working for the common man.”
Her joining the Congress has drawn sharp criticism from her former party colleagues. Senior CPI(M) leader and former minister J. Mercykutty Amma publicly labelled Aisha Potty a vargavanchaka, stating that her actions were driven by a greed for positions and titles, and added that the party would face this “betrayal” with composure.
With the entry of the “giant killer” who famously defeated Balakrishna Pillai in Kottarakkara into its fold, the Congress is expected to bolster its prospects in Kollam district ahead of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections.