Kerala’s choice: PC Chacko’s decades of experience in Kerala politics could be useful to NCP
New Delhi:
Former Kerala Congress Leader PC Chacko will join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar today. After being a part of it for decades, he resigned from his previous organization last week due to differences in seating assignments.
“I will meet with Sharad Pawar. Whatever crisis the party faces, it must be discussed. I will also meet with Sitaram Yechury and Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss the future course of action. I need to extend my support to the LDF (Left Democratic Front of Kerala) I will decide (on joining) after meeting Pawar sahab,“he said today according to an ANI report.
The 74-year-old is a former Member of Parliament from Kerala Thrissur constituency. He headed the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G Spectrum during the UPA government (2009-2014). On March 10, he announced his decision to leave Congress for the allegedly undemocratic way of selecting candidates for the next Assembly elections in Kerala, scheduled for April 6.
The United Democratic Front (UDF), led by Congress, seeks to replace the communist-led Left Democratic Front government of Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala. The state, which has never granted a second consecutive term to the current chief minister or alliance until now, could throw a surprise this time, observers say.
The NCP is allied with the left in Kerala. A fringe player in the state, the NCP faced something of a crisis last month when its only MLA, Mani C Kappan, left the game and formed his own team. Chacko’s entry could potentially restore some of his weight given his decades of experience in the state’s political landscape.
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