In line with the power-sharing agreement singed by the Congress(A) and (I) groups at Kumbalam Panchayat, the I group is set to take over the governance. As part of it, the I group members have demanded the resignation of panchayat president A J Joseph, who is an A group member.
“There was an agreement that the A group will rule the civic body for the first two-and-a-half years while the I group will take over the next term. Now that the A group has completed their tenure, the president has to keep his word, “said Paulachan Maniyamkodu, a I group member.
He said the agreement was reached as per the directive of the Kerala Predesh Congress Committee.
“The panchayat has a total of 18 seats. During the last election, United Democratic Front (UDF) won 10 seats and Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 8 seats. Among the total 10 seats, I group had five members and A group has 4 members.
As per the direction of KPCC, the panchayat president must be selected by the group which has majority. However, there were no clear majority for any group as a I group member withdrew his support. Hence, we made a the mutual agreement. This is also applicable to the vice-president position. The post which was be held by I group during the first term will be given to A group,” he said.
Meanwhile, Paulachan said A J Joseph was not resigning despite request from District Congress Committee president V J Paulose. “M G Sathyan is our candidate for the position of panchayat president. We also registered complaint with the DDC and KPCC offices in this regard,” he said.
Meanwhile, as part of the pressure tactics of I group, its vice-president resigned on Wednesday.
However, Kumbalam panchayat president A J Joseph said that he is yet to decide about the resignation.