Thiruvananthapuram: Trouble has been mounting for two Kerala MLA’a – One is minister AK Saseendran and other is Thomas K Thomas as the Ajith-Pawar-led faction of the party has demanded their resignation.
Forest Minister AK Saseendran and the party’s state president, Thomas K. Thomas, are the two MLAs who received a letter from NCP national leader Praful Patel, seeking their resignation from their legislative posts.
The CPI(M) state committee and the Chief minister’s office has taken the matter seriously and has already held talks with senior NCP leaders in the state.
In his letter to Thomas, Patel said the MLAs had been elected to the Assembly in 2021 on the NCP’s ‘clock’ symbol and are now working against the party, PTI reported.
The two MLAs are currently aligned with the NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction and are part of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala.
It is learnt that Patel forwarded the letter on July 4; however, it became public only on Tuesday. The letter stated that Thomas has been suspended from the party for six years and directed him to resign from his post within a week or face disqualification under the provisions of the People’s Representation Act and the Anti-Defection Law.
According to party sources, the NCP working president also sent a similar letter to Minister Saseendran.
Addressing the media, Thomas said the state NCP unit has been working under Sharad Pawar’s leadership from the very beginning.
We will ignore the letter as we are not associated with Praful Patel’s party,” he said.
When asked about the threat to invoke the Anti-Defection Law, he said it is a matter to be decided by the State Assembly Speaker.
Saseendran also reiterated the state president’s stance and noted that the state unit has always functioned in accordance with the party’s constitution.
The NCP split in July 2023 led to the current political issue for the ruling LDF in Kerala. The Ajit Pawar-led faction’s decision to join the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra led to the party splitting into two. In February 2024, the Election Commission of India awarded the party name and symbol to Ajit Pawar’s faction. Following this, the second faction, led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, was named the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar).