With municipal chairman C.K. Varghese refusing to step down despite repeated directions, the District Congress Committee (DCC) has reported the matter to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday for ways to deal with the issue.
Interestingly, Mr. Varghese, who seems to have the support of at least five A group councillors, continues to hold on to the position after being ousted from the party by DCC president V.J. Paulose besides being asked to make way for a new incumbent by a three-member KPCC sub-committee.
Asked whether a no-confidence motion with a whip to Congress councillors remain the option before the party to do away with the present chairman, Mr. Paulose said that the DCC will act as directed by KPCC. He said that the chairman could not take refuge in the argument that he has been ousted from the party and hence not bound by the party diktat.
Wilson Mundadan, a Congress councillor and a close confidant of the chairman, argue that the DCC is trying to impose an unfair agreement reached without adequate consultations just before the re-election of Mr. Varghese as chairman after being unseated when Congress I group councillors teamed up with LDF during a no-confidence motion last year.
“The DCC leadership is trying to install K.A. Paulose who joined hands with LDF to remove the chairman. Anyway, the party cannot get a no-confidence motion against the chairman passed without the support of at least three out of the five A group councillors supporting Mr. Varghese,” Mr. Mundadan said.
Mr. Paulose said that he had given unconditional support to the party immediately after the elections helping it gain simple majority to rule despite winning as an independent. “An agreement was reached that Mr. Varghese would resign in December 2013 before he was reinstalled as chairman last year after being voted out. Not only he violated the agreement, but his misrule has been widely criticised,” he accused.
