ATHENS – After being removed from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group for yet another outburst, former deputy health minister Pavlos Polakis called for party leader Stefanos Kasselakis – whom he had supported – to be replaced.

Polakis is known for verbal attacks and defiance but surprisingly had backed Kasselakis in 2023 when the then-unknown Greek-American businessman came out of nowhere with a whirlwind social media campaign to take over SYRIZA.

That has since seen a number of dissidents break off to form their own party, the New Left, and continued grumbling within the ranks about his style that has taken the once radical party toward the center and further away from alleged principles.

Kasselakis took Polakis out of only the parliamentary group, not the party, which led the firebrand provocateur to stay in SYRIZA as a Member of Parliament and he used the opportunity to call for a change in leadership.

It’s over his removal by Kasselakis for Polakis mocking an aide to Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis during a debate on the New Democracy government’s psychiatric care bill.

Polakis said the aide’s facial expressions were condescending but other lawmakers assailed him for his behavior, including fellow SYRIZA member Athina Linou who said it was unacceptable but he didn’t back down.

He used a post-summer meeting of the party’s political secretariat to go after Kasselakis with a vengeance, which also said eight leading members of the disenchanted so-called Group of 87 walking out in another shot at the leader.

Polakis, a former mentor of Kasselakis, told members that “the leadership cannot move forward like this. It cannot provide a political solution. Change is needed, and I will contribute to this effort for change.”

Before the meeting he said he would bring the challenge, which irked Kasselakis over that being made public and there were indications that Polakis might be a candidate for leadership himself despite his divisive style.

The eight who walked out said that, “We do not legitimize procedures, behaviors and decisions that trivialize us as individuals and our party,” and said Kasselakis was trying to pressure lawmakers so he could gain a seat in Parliament and that they were upset about his handling of SYRIZA aligned news outlets.

They also said that, “The refusal to provide financial data to the political secretariat speaks volumes about the rules being imposed in the new SYRIZA, which in no way represents the left,” a further challenge at his credentials.

The state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency, citing sources not named, said that there complaints that Kasselakis said funding the two party-connected media sources “should be even through borrowing, so that staff get paid their owed wages, and so that the cost of voluntary resignations is covered.”

They also reportedly said there is a continuation of “the coverup around the facts related to the party’s finances, despite the rise of revenues in the past year,” and said Kasselakis’ actions “humiliate us publicly as individuals, and our party.”

Kasselakis took the floor and said he would not step down despite the growing resistance to his leadership that has failed to make a dent in the lead of the ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“I’m not picking up the gauntlet. I will not inconvenience the people of SYRIZA. Whoever wants to, can file a motion to the central committee,” he stated in a preview of what could be a contentious central committee meeting Sept. 7-8.