Amidst rumours of political switch, veteran CPM leader Aisha Potty to attend Congress event

KOLLAM: Former Kottarakkara MLA Aisha Potty, now at loggerheads with the CPM leadership, ignited the political cauldron after she decided to participate as the keynote speaker in the Oommen Chandy memorial conference to be held in Kottarakkara on Friday.

A poster of an event featuring Aisha Potty with Kodikunnil Suresh MP and Chandy Oommen MLA is being circulated. The event is being held at the Congress Kottarakkara Block Committee's Kalayapuram Ashraya Sanketham.

Aisha Potty, a former district committee member, did not attend any of the grassroots conferences preceding the CPM state conference held in Kollam last March. She was first excluded from the area committee and then from the district committee, but was included in the Kottarakkara area committee after the state conference.

P. Aisha Potty joined the CPM in 1991. In 2000, she became the Kollam District Panchayat member and president. In 2005, she became the District Panchayat member again. In 2006, she defeated former minister and Kerala political giant R. Balakrishna Pillai and became an MLA from the Congress bastion.

Dissent brewed between her and CPM after Potty was denied a seat for the third consecutive time. After much pressure, CPM handed over the seat to her in 2016, and Aisha made no mistake and emerged victorious again. It was expected that the Pinarayi government would give her the speaker portfolio, but that didn’t turn out. In the 2021 Legislative Assembly elections, the CPM gave the Kottarakkara seat to K.N. Balagopal.

Later, Aisha Potty requested party to relieve her of party responsibilities due to health issues, and she wanted to focus more on her legal career. This year, Aisha didn't even renew her party membership.

With news of Aisha distancing away from CPM growing, Congress started to manoeuvre moves to bring the veteran politician to their turf ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. Kodikunnil Suresh MP dismissed politics behind inviting Aisha for the event. However, Suresh made it clear that the doors of the Congress Party will never be slammed in front of Aisha.