Another Jolt to Congress, PC Chacko Quits Party Ahead of Kerala Assembly Elections
NEW DELHI, Mar 10: The Congress has continued to drift with the senior party leader in Kerala Senior Congress leader and former national general secretary P C Chacko quitting the party less than a month before the state go to the polls on April 6.
Chacko, a former Member of Parliament from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, sent his resignation to the party interim president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday complaining that “no sincere worker” could survive in the party which had become “rudderless” with even the party leadership taking no steps to stamp out groupism in the party.
“It is very difficult for a sincere Congress worker to survive. Merit is not a concern at all,” Chacko said while addressing a press conference. He added that Congress was a rudderless ship and has failed to find a president for more than a year.
“I’d been deliberating upon this decision for past many days. I come from Kerala where there’s no Congress party as such. There are two groups – “A” group headed by Oommen Chandy and “I” group headed by Ramesh Chennithala. It’s coordination committee of two parties functioning as KPCC,” he added.
Chacko also targeted senior Congress leaders in his state, Chennithala and Oommen Chandy. “Both Chennithala and Chandy always divide seats and organisational posts between them,” he said.
Chacko said in Kerala only those who are part of any of the two groups have future and others were always sidelined.
“Kerala is facing a crucial election. People want Congress to come back but there’s groupism practiced by top leaders of Congress. I’ve been arguing with high command that this should be ended. But the high command is also agreeing to the proposal given by both groups,” he said.
The political observers, however, feel that though Chacko’s quitting the party would be a major loss for the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, the benefit would not shift to the BJP in a state like Kerala which during the last four decades or so have alternately voted to power the UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF front. “The BJP has absolutely no chance to come anywhere close to the power corridor in Kerala,” some analysts said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
