THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a dramatic move, senior Congress leader P C Chacko has resigned from the party, citing neglect, factionalism and lack of leadership. Announcing his resignation at New Delhi, he lashed out at party leaders in Kerala and also at the AICC leadership.
Chacko's resignation from the party comes at a time when the AICC appointed Screening Committee has been holding marathon level talks since Monday evening on the Congress candidates for the Assembly elections. Chacko being a member of the 40-member Election Committee appointed by the AICC leadership had informed in its last meeting that his name need not be considered from Chalakudy.
But the latest move to call it quits from the Congress by the four-time Lok Sabha MP has definitely caught the KPCC and AICC leadership unawares. While informing that he has tendered his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also sent a copy of the letter to Rahul Gandhi, he maintained that there is no Congress party in Kerala, only "A" Congress and "I" Congress.
"These two Congress parties have divided the seats between themselves. Factionalism is the biggest bane of the Congress party in the state. I have been continuously arguing with the Congress high command about the rampant factionalism which has affected the party. But they didn't heed my request and did not do anything to end the factionalism. It is impossible to work in the state Congress without showing any group leanings. V M Sudheeran was also forced out from the party due to factionalism," said a peeved Chacko.
Ever since 74-year-old Chacko lost the Chalakudy Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 general elections after swapping the Thrissur seat with K P Dhanapalan, he had become 'undesirable' among Congress leaders from the state. It was his rapport with the AICC leadership that helped him get the Chalakudy seat instead of his then sitting seat of Thrissur. The AICC leadership was keen to go out of the box to return the favour, following his role as chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2 G Spectrum probe which gave the Congress a clean chit.
Even when Chacko used to attend the KPCC’s high power 21-member Political Affairs Committee meeting at Indira Bhavan, he used to be highly critical of the party leadership in the state. An articulate leader, Chacko never used to mince his words when he wanted to convey his displeasure against his detractors in the party.
"No one has seen the probable candidate list submitted before the Screening Committee. I haven’t decided on what lies ahead for me. The people are keen to see the Congress coming back to power, but groupism has been a stumbling block," added Chacko.
It should be recalled that Chacko had not been a party to the signature campaign against the AICC leadership by the G 23 leaders. Unleashing a tirade against the AICC leadership, Chacko maintained that it was unfortunate that even one-and-a-half years after the Lok Sabha poll debacle, the party is yet to find a suitable leader.
In a veiled attack against Rahul Gandhi, Chacko also cited the central leadership’s failure in tackling the BJP's strides in the country. He had to quit the role of AICC in-charge of Delhi following the poll debacle the Congress received at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party. Now all eyes are on Chacko's next move.