Amidst the scuffle evolved in the Congress due to the selection of 14 District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents, senior INC leader and ex-MLA, A V Gopinath contested against it and submitted his official resignation from the primary membership of the left-wing party, on Monday.
Gopinath was an ex-president of the Palakkad DCC and a KPCC member. Due to utter dissatisfaction after the selection of the DCC presidents, he said that he was ending his 50-year-long association with the Congress party.
Notifying his resignation from the 50-year long term from the party at a press conference, the minister said that, “He would not like to continue as a stumbling block in the progress of the party for which he worked tirelessly for the last five decades. Supporters of Gopinath had pressed for his appointment to the post of DCC chief but the leadership selected A Thankappan to lead the party in the district.”
Earlier this year, Gopinath condemned the act of not allocating him a party ticket to contest in the Assembly polls held early this year. However, senior leaders Oommen Chandy and K Sudhakaran pacified the ambience with an immediate effect. “I would not take the matter lightly”, averred Gopinath, who claims that he hasn’t been involved in major decision making despite possessing a grassroots level of support.
He quits from the party with a letter of resignation a day after senior leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala contested against the DCC chiefs selection procedure and criteria for the state leadership. As per their stance, no talks were carried forward with them before shortlisting and selecting the party chiefs.
Contradicting the floating allegations, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s President (KPCC), member of Parliament (MP) K Sudhakaran and the Opposition Leader in the State Assembly V D Satheesan averred that the list of DCC chiefs was finalised after a discussion with all leaders, including Chandy and Chennithala.
