A majority of party workers continue to remain with the Kerala unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) [NCP(SP)] despite a split in the organisation, P.M. Suresh Babu, who assumed charge as the party’s State president, said here on Wednesday.

Mr. Babu, who had replaced former NCP (SP) State president Thomas K. Thomas, rejected the claim by the rival faction that they had left the party as Mr. Pawar had reportedly tilted towards the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. “It is a baseless allegation as Supriya Sule, NCP (SP) working president, had attended the INDIA bloc meeting held in New Delhi on Monday,” he said.

He said that Mr. Pawar stood firmly with the INDIA bloc while alleging that the rival faction led by former Minister A.K. Saseendran and Mr. Thomas had no concrete reason to cite for severing ties with the central leadership. He said that the Kerala unit of the party would stand firm with the Left front in Kerala. The attempts, if any, to induct the rival faction into the front will be seen as an unethical practice, where leaders tried to form parties to pursue their vested interests, he alleged.

P.C. Chacko, national working president of the party, who inaugurated the State leadership meeting, said in a communication that around 1,300 delegates had attended the meeting, claiming that a majority of the workers stood with the central leadership.

Published – June 10, 2026 09:36 pm IST