In January 1931, he was appointed First Secretary of the Lower Volga Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and worked in the position until 1934 when he became the First Secretary of the Stalingrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On February 9, 1934, Ptukha was reelected as a candidate member of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. From 1935 to September 13, 1937, he served as the Second Secretary of the Far Eastern Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was around this time that Ptukha became a member of the NKVD troika and actively participated in Stalinist repressions and the Great Purge.