In the month of March, Kerala witnessed a rare kind of protest when a woman leader shaved her head while the seat-sharing discussion of the Congress was progressing. Lathika Subhash, who headed the Mahila Congress in the state, tonsured her head sitting in front of the Indira Bhavan, the Congress headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. Lathika was agitated that her party denied her a party ticket to contest the Assembly Elections. She tonsured her head after declaring her decision to resign as the Mahila Congress chief on March 14. Lathika Subhash is now likely to join the Nationalist Congress Party.
The NCP, which is an ally of the Congress at the national level, is part of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala. NCP Kerala President PC Chacko told TNM that Lathika had met him in Kochi on May 22, Saturday, and was likely to join the party. "She is likely to join, she met me yesterday, she will most probably hold a press meet tomorrow or the day after," he said. A woman face of the Congress in Kerala for a long time, Lathika contested the elections held in April from the Ettumanoor Assembly constituency in the Kottayam district but managed to come in fourth by securing 7410 votes.
NCP National President Sharad Pawar has recently appointed PC Chacko as the party-state President. PC Chacko,a senior leader, was Lathika's colleague in the Congress party. He quit the party in March in protest of the party 'being in the grip of factional leaders'. Chacko reportedly attempted to woo more Congress leaders to the NCP. PC Chacko told TNM that several well known Congress leaders are likely to join the NCP. "In the last few days, I have been meeting people from the Congress. Some of the known leaders are likely to join the NCP. Among these, there are former MLAs and presidents of the District Congress Committees. It's not fair on my part to reveal their names. Congress is going down every day, I am meeting a lot of people (of the Congress). I am not able to travel more as it's a lockdown, I will be able to meet more people in the coming days once it's lifted. If I start meeting more people, more party workers would come to the NCP ," Chacko added.