PC Chacko to join NCP, meets Sharad Pawar in Delhi

PC Chacko, former Congress leader from Kerala, met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday amid reports that he could join the party.

Chacko is an influential leader from Kerala. A former working committee member of the Congress, Chacko was elected to Lok Sabha from Thrissur (1991), Mukundapuram (1996), Idukki (1998 ) and Thrissur (2009).

Chacko resigned from Congress last week, alleging discrepancies in deciding party candidates for the coming assembly elections. He is the second senior leader to quit the national party after Jyotiraditya Scindia. Scindia joined the BJP after his resignation over differences with Congress' Madhya Pradesh state leadership.

Chacko while announcing his decision to quit the Congress, said, "No democracy left in Congress. Candidate list has not been discussed with the state Congress committee."

Amid demand from a group of 23 senior Congress leaders for an organisational overhaul of the party, Chacko, who headed the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G Spectrum during the second UPA rule, also alleged that the national leadership of the party has not been active for the last two years.

Chacko also said that he had been continuously arguing with the party high command to put an end to the groupism in the state but failed.