Courtesy of Cezary Piwowarski

Civic Platform (PO) is likely to choose new leaders for its parliamentary club this week. The change of guard follows the election of former parliamentary club head, Grzegorz Schetyna, as the new speaker of the Sejm.

Waldek Dzikowski, deputy parliamentary club head, said all the parliamentary club leaders would resign, as the new head should be allowed to personally choose his or her own subordinates.

The expected changes in PO have fueled rumors that the controversial Janusz Palikot might not be reappointed as deputy head of its parliamentary club due to incendiary remarks he recently made about the late President Lech Kaczyński, who died along with 95 others in the Smolensk plane crash.

Mr Palikot's raised hackles when he said that an investigated should be launched into whether the late president had been under the influence of alcohol when boarding the plane on its ill-fated flight. Mr Palikot seemed to be implying that in an alcohol-induced moment of bravado, Mr Kaczyński had ordered the pilot to land the plane despite extremely unfavorable weather conditions.

“The chances of Palikot being a part of the new leadership have been thrown to the winds following his recent statements about the Smolensk catastrophe,” said Ireneusz Raś, head of PO in the Małopolskie region. “His words have been continually discussed at PO political meetings and it seems most MP's don't want to have such a deputy parliamentary club leader.”

Current deputy parliamentary club leaders Rafał Grupiński and Sławomir Rybicki, as well as Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, an MP and spokesperson for Bronisław Komorowski's successful presidential campaign, have been mentioned as potential candidates to take Mr Schetyna's place.