No democracy left in Congress: Senior leader Chacko quits ahead of Assembly elections

P C Chacko. Pic/PTI

In a blow to the Congress in poll-bound Kerala, senior leader P C Chacko on Wednesday announced his resignation from the party, alleging group interest in deciding party candidates for the coming assembly elections. Chacko, who was a former working committee member of the Congress, is the second senior leader to quit the national party after Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Amid demand from a group of 23 senior Congress leaders for an organisational overhaul of the party, Chacko, who headed the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G Spectrum during the second UPA rule, also alleged that the national leadership of the party has not been active for the past two years.

Not joining BJP
He, however, did not announce his future plans but made it clear on his views on the BJP, saying the saffron party "is not a political factor" in the southern state. Scindia had joined the BJP after resigning from the party.

"I have sent my resignation letter to Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and to Rahul Gandhi. This decision, I have been deliberating for the last many days", Chacko told a press conference in New Delhi. "No democracy left in Congress. Candidate list has not been discussed with the state Congress committee," he alleged.

Hitting out at the leadership of the two groups in Kerala's Congress party - "A" group headed by former CM Oommen Chandy and "I" group led by senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala, Chacko alleged that only Chandy and Chennithala know who all are being fielded as the party's candidates in April 6 Kerala Assembly polls.

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