Extraordinary act of an ordinary leader

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The act of resignation of 63-year-old R Selvaraj from the CPM and the state Assembly reminds one of the words of eminent American political commentator James Reston that ‘democracy is the theory that ordinary people can do extra ordinary things’.Though he was just another face of the CPM in the Assembly in his first term, his act was extraordinary as he was the first legislator in the state’s history to resurface as a candidate of the party and the Front, which he had trounced 14 months ago, in a bypoll resulted by his own resignation.Once, Selvaraj was the mascot of the red brigade at the Dhanuvachapuram VTM NSS College when he was elected as the first SFI Chairman while doing BA Political Science second-year.He continued his winning streak as a CPM candidate from Eythukondani ward in the Kollayil panchayat in 1978 and later became its vice-president as a member of the Kottamam ward. However, his first attempt to the Assembly from Parassala in 2001 was unsuccessful as he lost to the then UDF candidate N Sundaran Nadar by a margin of 11,550 votes. But he avenged the loss by winning the election in 2006 by a margin of 4,407 votes.After delimitation redrew the boundaries of Parassla, Selvaraj was hesitant to accept Neyyatinkara, as he thought it was a trap by the party district leadership for his unceremonious exit from the party. But the result shocked the doubting comrade, as he defeated sitting MLA Thampanoor Ravi by a margin of 6,702 votes. But Anavoor Nagappan’s defeat at Parassala made Selvarajs’s victory a bitter one.Thus on March 9, he severed all the relation with the CPM  which started on September 1, 1968, alleging the party had given ‘quotation’ to endanger his family including two daughters. However, his wife Mary Valsala is facing a legal notice from CPM district secretary Kadakampally Surendran for ‘a baseless allegation aimed at defaming him and his party’.Though Selvaraj had stated that ‘it is better to commit suicide than courting UDF’ while announcing his resignation, he became a Congress member 47 days later.