A PROMINENT SDLP member in Co Tyrone has been disciplined by the party for the second time in less than 12 months.
Party chiefs last night confirmed that the whip has been removed from Derry City and Strabane District councillor Patsy Kelly but failed to explain why.
It is understood that the latest sanction came after Mr Kelly released a statement claiming that his party may run a second candidate in West Tyrone in the forthcoming assembly elections and suggested that sitting MLA Daniel McCrossan “was parachuted into the job”.
Mr McCrossan was selected to replace Joe Byrne who resigned earlier this year due to ill health.
The development comes less than 12 months after the whip was removed from Mr Kelly for four weeks amid claims he voiced support for a Sinn Féin candidate during last year’s Westminster election.
The SDLP in west Tyrone has been gripped by a series of rows in recent months.
In October last year Mr Kelly and party colleague Josephine Deehan, who is a Fermanagh and Omagh councillor, were among dozens of SDLP members who refused to recognise Mr McCrossan’s selection as the sole West Tyrone candidate in the assembly elections.
It is said they were also unhappy when Mr McCrossan was proposed as Mr Byrne’s replacement.
Mr Kelly claimed last week that that a second, female candidate, could run in the constituency when the north goes to the polls later this year.
“Daniel McCrossan was parachuted into the job,” he said.
“We have elected representatives who have been and are doing a great job, day and daily.
“When this person is revealed, people will know she has the experience to carry this,” he told the Strabane Chronicle.
However, this was rejected by Mr McCrossan who said: “There is only one candidate and you’re talking to him.”
Mr Kelly was also disciplined after appearing to support Sinn Féin’s Pat Doherty instead of Mr McCrossan, in last year’s Westminster elections.
Writing on Facebook on the night of the election count, he is reported as saying: “I want PD to win yet I am 200 per-cent SDLP.”
He was said to have tweeted a picture of what appears to be a bottle of champagne with the words “waiting with this bad boy for the West Tyrone results”.
When contacted last night Mr Kelly said: “It’s been removed (the party whip). That’s all I can say.”
An SDLP spokesman confirmed the whip had been removed.
