Chaos prevailed at a leadership meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) in Kottayam on Monday with two groups of workers clashing with each other over the recent ouster of NCP district president T.V. Baby from the post.
Sources said the clash began after NCP district secretary Francis Jacob presented a resolution against the ouster of Mr.Baby.
The move, however, faced opposition from a few leaders, triggering an altercation.
Those supporting the motion later claimed that the resolution had the support of 17 of the 26 members, who turned up for the meeting.
Eight district general secretaries, six of the nine block presidents, two State committee members, and a national committee member were among those who signed in the resolution, they said.
They said a major section of the leaders and workers were dissatisfied with the manner in which Mr. Baby had been ousted from the post and the matter would soon be reported to the party State committee.
Accusing party State president Thomas Chandy of attempting to bring the party under his control by expelling leaders of the A.K.Saseendran faction, they alleged that Mr.Chandy was attempting to become a minister again replacing Mr.Saseendran.
“To ensure this, Mr.Chandy is nominating his supporters to the maximum number of posts in all district units,” a leader said.
Denies charges
Denying reports of a clash, NCP national working committee member Mani C. Kappen said the meeting was convened as part of handing over the district president’s charge to another person.
“The State committee had deputed V.G. Raveendran, one of our State general secretaries, as the new district president. The meeting was convened for the new district president to interact with the district leaders,” he said.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife about Mr.Baby being removed from the post to ensure Mani C. Kappen’s candidature in the coming Pala byelection.