THRISSUR: In a dramatic turn of events, eight Congress councillors who resigned from the party joined hands with the BJP to elect independent candidate Tessy Jose Kallarakkal as the president of Mattathur grama panchayat on Saturday.

Of the 24 wards in Mattathur, the UDF won eight, the LDF 10 and the NDA four, while two independents were also elected. The LDF fielded one of the independents, Ouseph, as its presidential candidate, while the UDF backed the other independent, Tessy.

Tessy won the election with the support of the UDF’s eight votes and three votes from the BJP. “We resigned from the Congress to protest the failure of the district and block-level leadership to intervene in internal disputes. There were issues right from the candidate selection stage, and matters worsened after the results were declared. We hope the district leadership will step in and resolve them,” said Linto Pallipparambil, one of the Congress ward members who resigned.

Meanwhile, KPCC chief Sunny Joseph suspended DCC general secretary T M Chandran and mandalam president Shafi Kalluparambil from the party for acting against organisational decisions.