IUML leader-turned-CPM fellow traveller K T Jaleel takes sweet revenge

Malappuram: Ministerial berth for long time fellow-traveller Dr. K.T Jaleel is his sweet revenge to Muslim League which expelled him in 2005 for serious differences of opinion, especially with its then powerful general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty. The Assembly election in the following year catapulted Dr Jaleel as the Left face in Malappuram district, and he kept his part of the bargain by defeating his one-time mentor Kunhalikutty in the erstwhile Kuttipuram constituency.

It was the first-ever electoral defeat of Mr Kunhalikutty and the Left saw a surge in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram denting the traditional Muslim League bastion. He repeated his feat from Thavanur constituency in the 2011 elections, too. Once a firebrand Youth League leader, Dr Jaleel attracted a larger section of youth to the left fold in the district with his accessibility and excellent oratory skills.

And endeared himself to the CPM top brass in no time: he was the only non-party member of the CPM’s Pinarayi Vijayan-led Nava Kerala Yatra in January. Dr Jaleel had entered electoral politics as a member of Malappuram district Panchayat. A college teacher by profession, Dr Jaleel possesses a doctoral degree in historical studies from University of Kerala.

He was a lecturer in history at PSMO College in Tirurangadi when he ventured into the Assembly elections in 2006. His wife M.P. Fatima is the principal of Valancheri Higher Secondary School. The couple has three children.