KOTTAYAM: With the Kerala Congress (M) officially returning to the UDF camp on Friday, the stage has been set for change of guard in various local self-government institutions, where the UDF will get a majority with the support of KC(M). As a beginning of this process, KC(M) leader Zacharias Kurthiraveli, stepped down from the post of Kottayam district panchayat president.
KC(M) chairman K M Mani has already sent a note to its district leadership and lower level party leaders to keep up the political understanding the party had with the Congress before they left the UDF camp.
Meanwhile, Zacharias told Express he handed over his resignation to party chairman Mani to uphold the political morality and to keep up coalition dharma, in the wake of the KC(M) joining the UDF. “As per the understanding, we can continue for six more months. However, I am resigning and rest of the things will be decided by KC(M) and UDF leaderships,” he said.
Zacharias was elected the president with the support of the CPM, which had worsened the relation between the Congress and the KC(M), and the District Congress Committee (DCC) passed a resolution against KC(M) that the latter would never be allowed to come back to the UDF.After walking out from the UDF camp on August 7, 2016, KC(M) had wrested the president post from Congress, when Congress party’s Joshy Philip, the then president stepped down to give way for his party colleague Sunny Pampady, in the president election held on May 3, 2017.
However, KC(M), with the support of the CPM, contested against Sunny and won the president post. Senior Congress leaders, including Oommen Chandy, K C Joseph, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and others, had come out against the KC(M) leadership for this unexpected move.The DCC passed the resolution against KC(M) in the presence of Chandy and others as well.Later, in several other local bodies, KC(M) played the same card either to retain power or to bring down the Congress.