Palakkad (Kerala) | Extending his support to Left independent candidate P Sarin, former Youth Congress leader A K Shanib, who had earlier announced his intention to contest as an independent candidate in the Palakkad Assembly bypoll, withdrew from the fray on Friday.

Shanib announced his decision after a meeting with Sarin, who is also a former leader of the Congress. He stated that he would campaign for Sarin but would not join the CPI(M).

Earlier in the day, Sarin had requested Shanib to withdraw from the contest to avoid splitting secular votes. Although Shanib initially decided to file his nomination by 2 pm, he later backtracked on this decision and announced his support for the Left independent candidate.

Shanib, who last week announced his resignation from the grand old party in protest against the selection of Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkootathil for the seat, had declared his intention to contest in the Palakkad bypoll.

The bypoll for the seat was necessitated by the election of sitting MLA and Congress leader Shafi Parambil to the Lok Sabha from the Vadakara constituency in the recent parliamentary polls.

Shanib had earlier accused Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan of "hijacking" the party along with two others and of shifting Parambil from Palakkad to the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat to necessitate a by-election in Palakkad that would benefit the BJP, which came second in the 2021 Assembly polls.

He also mentioned that many others in the party were discontent with how things were "hijacked" by Satheesan and Parambil but were afraid to speak out for various personal reasons.

Before joining the Left fold, former Congress digital media convenor Sarin had also made similar serious allegations against Satheesan and Parambil.