Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (fourth from left) hailing the LDF candidate M. Swaraj along with other LDF leaders at a convention at Nilambur on Sunday. Those in the picture are (from left) Jose K. Mani, T.P. Ramakrishnan, Binoy Viswam, Pinarayi Vijayan, M. Swaraj, P.P. Suneer, A. Vijayaraghavan and M. Govindan.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) formally began its political campaigning for the Nilambur Assembly byelection with a convention at Nilambur on Sunday afternoon.

Inaugurating the convention, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the people of Nilambur were facing a byelection as a fallout of a betrayal.

It was the LDF’s independent member P.V. Anvar’s resignation of his Assembly membership that led to the June 19 byelection in Nilambur.

Describing Mr. Anvar’s behaviour as an act of treachery without naming him, Mr. Vijayan said that Nilambur was the land of Variankunnath Kunhahamed Haji, the hero of Malabar rebellion who led the agitation against the British. “It is also the land of people who betrayed him. Like him, we too have been betrayed,” said the Chief Minister.

Mr. Vijayan presented the achievements of his government, especially in the last four years.

CPI leader P.P. Suneer presided over the function. V.M. Shoukath welcomed the gathering. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan, CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam, LDF convener T.P. Ramakrishnan, LDF candidate M. Swaraj, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan, and other LDF leaders such as Jose K. Mani, Roshy Augustin, A.K. Saseendran, K.K. Shailaja and C.S. Sujata addressed the convention.

Responding to the Chief Minister’s allegation of treachery, Mr. Anvar accused Mr. Vijayan of masterminding communal manipulations. “The Chief Minister’s expertise lies in using communities to his advantage and abandoning them when they are no longer needed. That is the real betrayal,” Mr. Anvar claimed through a Facebook post, adding that Nilambur was witnessing a fight for justice.