KOLLAM: Weeks after former CPM MLA Aisha Potty joined the Congress, remarks by a BJP leader that she had held talks with the BJP to join the saffron party, has kicked up a row.
A video of BJP Kollam East general secretary Soman Vayakkal has been doing the rounds, in which he is seen saying that Aisha Potty had planned to join the BJP before she formally teamed up with Congress.
“We will publish the photo of Aisha Potty wearing the (BJP) party shawl, right before the elections. At that time, she will have to reply if she had held discussions with the party,” Soman is seen saying in the video. Following the leak, the party asked Soman to remain silent on the issue.
Sources from the party’s Kollam leadership confirmed that discussions took place with Aisha, which were mediated by her relatives, who are BJP allies.
Responding to the controversy, Aisha reiterated her earlier remark that many parties had approached her to invite her when she decided to leave CPM. “If they had any such picture of me wearing BJP’s shawl, they would have released it as soon as I joined Congress. Why delay it till the election? Effectively, the BJP is now taking sides with the Left to attack me,” Aisha Potty told TNIE.