KOCHI: Dramatic scenes over the factional feud within the Congress party in Kalamassery Municipality continued with the DCC on Tuesday asking chairperson Jessy Peter to step down from the post. The DCC, headed by president T J Vinod, decided to remove Jessy and appoint I-faction councillor Rukhiya Jamal, wife of former chairman Jamal Manakkadan, to the chairman’s post.
However, the chairperson fell ill and was admitted to a private hospital. Since she was not in the office, she didn’t accept the DCC direction to resign from the post. Jessy who belongs to the A-group had expressed her willingness to step down after the seven-member sub-committee constituted by the KPCC, directed a change in the leadership last week.
The parliamentary party meeting held on Wednesday too decided to follow the directions of the KPCC.
However, a source closely associated with the A-faction of the Congress said the KPCC president had stopped the DCC from implementing the direction.
“He instructed to not bring any leadership change in the municipality for some period. The KPCC president will soon convene a meeting with the party leadership in this regard. A final decision in this will be taken only after the meeting,” said the source.
However, the DCC president said no direction has been received from the KPCC office yet. “It is true that we issued a letter to the chairperson to resign from the post. But we haven’t received a direction from the KPCC to stay the move,” said Vinod.