NCP(SP) Kerala president PC Chacko resigns amid party infighting

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 12 (IANS) The Kerala unit of NCP(SP) on Wednesday suffered a jolt when party state president P.C. Chacko resigned from his post.

The party for some time has been witnessing factional fights with its two legislators openly defying party discipline.

The NCP(SP) unit is an ally in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government.

The party has two MLAs -- state Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran and Thomas K. Thomas.

Since 2023 December, the feud between Saseendran and Thomas reached new levels when the former refused to make way for the latter, even when there was an agreement that after 30 months of being a Minister, Saseendran would make way for Thomas.

Last year Chacko supported Saseendran after a meeting with national president Sharad Pawar. Chacko also stood with Thomas trying to prevail upon CM Vijayan to give him a berth.

But CM Vijayan refused to do so and in the meanwhile an audio click believed to be that of Chacko turned viral in which he is heard saying that he is capable of taking on CM Vijayan if a need arises.

With this, both Thomas and Saseendran became friends and this irked Chacko who decided to quit as president.

78-year-old Chacko is a four-time former Congress Lok Sabha member and after being denied a ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he quit the party and joined the NCP in 2021 and became the state president.

Chacko finding the going tough after both Thomas and Saseendran joined hands, Chacko in all likelihood is keeping his cards close to his chest and a possible return to the Congress party is not ruled out.

With Thomas unlikely to get a cabinet berth, he is expected to be the new state president of the party.

Thomas, who won from the Kuttanad Assembly constituency in Alappuzha, is the brother of the former state Minister Thomas Chandy. The state NCP(SP) decided to give the Kuttanad Assembly constituency seat to Thomas during the 2021 Assembly elections which he won comfortably.