Jarosław Kaczyński might be getting ready to step down as leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party this fall, reports Rzeczpospolita, which quotes unnamed sources from within the party.

According to Rzeczpospolita's sources, Mr Kaczyński might pick a successor and move on to focus on investigating the causes of the Smolensk tragedy, staying on only as an honorary leader of the party.

The news comes after Mr Kaczyński was criticized in an open letter by PiS MEP Marek Migalski, in which he called the former prime minister a poor leader of the opposition.

If Jarosław Kaczyński was to resign, his party would have to face the upcoming local government elections without their talisman and founder. It would, according to some observers, also mean that the party could focus on challenging the government on substantive issues, such as health care reform and the state of public finances, without resorting to political mudslinging, for which Mr Kaczyński has become infamous.

However, PiS MEP Jacek Kurski said the idea of what Rzeczpospolita called an “abdication” was nonsense. PiS MP Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, who headed Mr Kaczyński's election campaign, said she didn't believe the rumors.

Indeed, it is not the first time Polish media has reported that Mr Kaczyński could step down. Mr Kaczyński had signaled the possibility following his July 5 presidential election loss to Bronisław Komorowski of rival party Civic Platform.

“At that time it was the result of understood emotions. But today he [Mr Kaczyński] is reminiscent of a tsar, who spreads word of his abdication and waits to see who starts shuffling to take the inheritance,” a PiS politician close to Ms Kluzik-Rostkowska said.

The presidential elections had been called early following the death of President Lech Kaczyński, Jarosław's twin. Lech Kaczyński died in a plane crash in Smolensk, Russia. The crash, in which 95 other Polish dignitaries also perished, has been termed the Smolensk disaster and is the focus of an ongoing Russo-Polish investigation.