KOLLAM: RSP has again got into a crisis mode with the humiliating defeat of the UDF in the assembly polls. Now, differences of opinion have come up among its leaders over continuation in the UDF camp. Shibu Baby John who again faced a defeat from the Chavara constituency has taken leave from the party. The old RSP(B) members hold the view that merger with other factions of the party has not benefited the party.

Shibu is concerned over the fact that he is not getting due regard and attention at the party and front. Sources say he had taken leave from the party citing ayurvedic treatment. His absence from the party’s meeting in Thiruvananthapuram also reveals the extent of his dissatisfaction with the party leadership. Nobody in the party now thinks that Shibu Baby John will leave UDF but party sources also say that if he leaves UDF in the future, there is nothing to wonder about.

Shibu Baby John won from the Chavara constituency, a stronghold of RSP, for the first time in 2001 by defeating the party’s senior leader V P Ramakrishna Pillai. But during his second stint in assembly polls, he was defeated by N K Premachandran. In 2011, he defeated N K Premachandran and became a minister in the Oommen Chandy cabinet.

However, during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, RSP defected to UDF from the LDF camp. But the merged RSP factions in the UDF were not able to secure even one seat in both assembly elections held after that. Party supporters of Shibu Baby John says that two consecutive poll defeats in the Chavara constituency have weakened him both mentally and financially