KOCHI: Opposition to state NCP president PC Chacko within the party seems to be growing with more and more leaders coming out in the open charging him with "dictatorial style of functioning" and "misusing his influence on national president Sharad Pawar".
Newcomers are being "hastily appointed" to key party posts even as the organisational elections are in progress and scheduled to be completed by March 31, they allege. Chacko is also ignoring senior leaders who have been with the party ever since its inception in nominations to various corporations and boards.
A section of NCP leaders in the state have approached Pawar complaining against the removal of three senior leaders - national secretary NA Mohammedkutty, Josemon and Varkala Ravikumar - from the high-level committee taking crucial decisions on party affairs in the state.
Pawar had summoned the leaders to Mumbai for a discussion on January 26, but postponed it after he contracted COVID-19. Besides, NCP general secretary Praful Patel is busy with the Goa elections. Now the talks will be held after the elections.
However, party general secretary TP Peethambaran told The New Indian Express that no such meeting has been scheduled now. "There are no internal issues within the party to hold such a meeting now," he said. But he didn't rule out such a meeting later if the situation warranted so.
Chacko had also courted controversy for allegedly "selling" PSC member post allotted to the party to a woman leader, who joined NCP recently and was elevated as state secretary of the women's wing. NCP leaders have come out alleging that the post was granted after taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh. Following a complaint from NCP leaders, the LDF has frozen the appointment.
NCP leaders opposing Chacko accuse him of trying to hijack the party by forming a coterie of newcomers to the party. Senior leaders are being removed from key party posts without any valid reason. The latest in the series is the appointment of Sruthi Haridas as member of State Board of Wild Life, a government committee under the chairmanship of the chief minister.
Replacement of elected Adoor block president Sabu Khan with a newcomer triggered another row after he approached the court terming his removal from the post as illegal. "Chacko has been making party appointments even after the announcement of the organisational elections which is against the party constitution. No fresh appointments should be made during this period. Moreover, only the state committee has the power to replace those in elected posts. Chacko is misusing his influence on Pawar," said a party functionary who requested not to be named. Since he took over, Chacko has replaced 11 district presidents, eight of them after the announcement of the organisational election.
Leaders approach Sharad Pawar
A section of NCP leaders in the state have approached party national president Sharad Pawar complaining against the removal of three senior leaders - national secretary NA Mohammedkutty, Josemon and Varkala Ravikumar - from the high-level committee taking crucial decisions on party affairs in the state