Thiruvananthapuram:  Senior Congress leader from Palakkad, AV Gopinath on Monday announced his quit from the party. The resignation is the first following the re-structure of the 14 district Congress Committee presidents on August 28. Gopinath represented the Alathur Assembly constituency during the 1991-96 period and later lost. The drastic move comes in the wake of the appointment of new presidents for the District Congress Committees (DCC) in Kerala. 

announcing his resignation, he said, "I am ending my 50-year-old ties with Congress. The leaders are not rising to the occasion. I have not considered joining any other party. Nor have I held discussions in this regard." He went on to say, "I have been working for the Congress since I was 15. Now I have lost all hope. I feel like I have become an obstacle in the party's growth. I don't want to remain so," Gopinath said,

"It is a matter of pride to serve Pinarayi Vijayan," Gopinath said likely as a taunt to his local party rival Anil Akkara, an MLA, who had earlier warned that he would have to be Pinarayi's footman. 

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