Twenty20 Loses Poothrikkа Panchayat Control as President Resigns

Kochi: The Twenty20 organisation has suffered a significant political blow just days before the assembly elections, losing control of Poothrikka panchayat after its president Pooja Jomon resigned following a dispute with Kitex owner Sabu M Jacob. The panchayat, which Twenty20 had secured through a lottery after the party tally was tied at seven seats each with the UDF, has now slipped from its grasp.

The resignation comes in the wake of deepening turmoil within the organisation triggered by Sabu Jacob's controversial decision to align Twenty20 with the NDA — a move made through backroom manoeuvres without the knowledge of the party's own senior leaders. Muslim and Christian leaders and workers who had formed the core support base of Twenty20 had already left the organisation in large numbers following Sabu's BJP alignment.

The reasons behind Sabu's capitulation to BJP pressure are now well documented. Already reeling from setbacks in business and politics, Sabu came under the Enforcement Directorate's scanner over financial irregularities linked to the company's CSR fund. The BJP, led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is alleged to have exploited this vulnerability to bring Sabu to heel. Sabu, who had been careful not to antagonise the BJP even while publicly criticising both the Left and Right fronts, had concealed his contributions to the party through electoral bonds. He also purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 25 crore for K Chandrasekhar Rao's BRS government in Telangana to secure favourable treatment for his business there, while a separate undisclosed sum was routed to the BJP.

The political fallout was already visible at the local body level. Kunnathunad and Mazhuvanoor panchayats, having seen through what critics describe as the fraud behind the CSR facade, abandoned Twenty20. The loss of Poothrikka now reduces the organisation's firm panchayat control from four to three, and the Vadavucode block, too, has been lost in the current cycle.