When the Kerala Assembly elections are around the corner, political parties and politicians are on a run to get a place in one of the alliances, also to make sure they get the seats they want. Poonjar constituency MLA PC George, the only independent MLA in the Kerala Assembly, who is called as lone tusker (Ottayan) by his followers also tried hard to get a place in an alliance but the potty mouth MLA who has often slandered men, women and not even spared sexual assault survivors, hasn’t found a place anywhere yet.
The United Democratic Front has blatantly rejected him as he was not willing to support the UDF as an independent MLA. The Left Democratic Front refused to even talk about PC George in public. The National Democratic Alliance leaders said that their meetings with PC George were not fruitful.
Rejected by all fronts, PC George finally announced on Wednesday that he has decided to contest as an independent candidate from Poonjar.
The six-time MLA from Poojar constituency had recently said that he wanted to shift from his constituency. "I met Oommen Chandy to talk about a seat in the Kanjirappally constituency on a UDF ticket. I don't want to contest from Poonjar as some are campaigning against me here. Chandy agreed to my demands but soon played tricks to block my entry to the front," he told the media, revealing his insecurity to contest from Poonjar from where he won with a huge margin of votes. In the 2016 Assembly elections his majority was 27,821, when he contested as an independent candidate then.In that case why would the MLA need a change of constituency to Kanjirappally? He believes that there is a wave against him in Poonjar.
As per reports, his Islamophobic comments made many Muslim voters turn against him in Poonjar. He has also tried to play religious politics as Kerala Catholic leadership started getting closer to BJP politics, and targeted the Muslim community and its leaders.
PC George is known for his obscene language and his repeated derogatory comments against women.
In 2015 during the UDF rule, George was censured by the Kerala Assembly, after he made unsavoury comments against Gowri Amma and her late husband and CPI veteran TV Thomas. That was the first time the Assembly Ethics Committee took action against a leader in an incident that happened outside the assembly.
PC George had once again revealed his bigotry with his distasteful views on the Kerala actor assault case in 2017. Apart from extending support to the accused actor, he also made unsavoury remarks against the survivor. He questioned whether the woman actor was lying about the assault she faced.
In 2018, he yet again stood with a rape accused when he supported Bishop Franco Mulakkal. George had disgustingly compared the rape survivor to a sex worker.
The same year, George’s comments over Dalits started a huge row. "This priest was born for a Pulaya (a Dalit caste) woman. Can he be considered as a Catholic? Will Catholics listen to him? There are many such cases in Ernakulam Angamaly Archdiocese. There will be a time that Catholics won't even attend masses by them”.
Hitting a canteen waiter for bringing his food late, threatening labourers of a plantation using a gun, insulting transgender persons; the list of PC George’s vitriolic outbursts is long and shameful.
George was part of the Kerala Congress faction of PJ Joseph. Later he formed a new party Kerala Congress (Secular). It was an ally of LDF earlier but later it merged with Kerala Congress(Mani) faction. In 2015, he had issues with KM Mani and he was ousted from the party. In 2016, he contested as an independent. In 2017, he formed a new party called the Kerala Janapaksham.
In the last five years PC George praised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan many times, but the LDF was not ready to accept him. UDF always kept a distance from him.
A month ago he said, "Oommen Chandy should lead UDF. Only a great leader like him can win the front again. Only Oommen Chandy can defeat a strong leader like Pinarayi.”
Over the next few days, he changed tack and blamed Chandy for blocking his way to the UDF.
He had his plans to join the NDA too. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections his Janapaksham party joined the NDA. Then he had claimed that he was joining the BJP alliance as the national party has done a lot for farmers. Later he claimed BJP leader K Surendran's protest against women entry in Sabarimala attracted him to the party.
But none of this has helped George in finding a place with any front.