Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran has written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, “recommending strict and befitting disciplinary action” against party leader K V Thomas for attending a seminar held on the sidelines of the CPM Party Congress in Kannur.
“...it has become evident that his decision to attend the seminar was pre-planned and he was in touch with several CPM leaders for the past one year,” Sudhakaran wrote in his letter.
“Upon deliberations with senior Congress leaders in Kerala, we conclude that KV Thomas has violated the party decorum, discipline and he has acted in contradiction to the directions of Congress party,” he said.
Unfazed by the stiff opposition raised by his party, senior Congress leader K V Thomas on Saturday took part in a national seminar titled 'centre-state relations' organised by the ruling CPM.
Thomas, in his address, hailed veteran Communist leader and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the 'pride of Kerala'.
The former union minister and five-time MP, who has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership for some time, received thunderous applause from the CPM cadre when he arrived at the venue.
Thomas, who enjoys considerable clout among Latin Christians in coastal Kerala, was welcomed by draping a red shawl and gifting a photo of Jesus Christ by the CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan at the dais.
He shared the platform with Pinarayi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Addressing the huge gathering of CPI(M) activists as "comrades and friends", Thomas began his speech lavishing praise on Pinarayi and his administrative capabilities and development agenda.
Extending support to the CM's SilverLine project, which the Congress party in Kerala is opposing tooth and nail, Thomas said there is no need to oppose a development project only because it was brought by Pinarayi.
Taking a dig at his party colleagues, Thomas also said Pinarayi was working in a situation where everybody opposes him except people of the state.
Without mentioning the name of KPCC chief and Kannur strongman K Sudhakaran MP, a political archrival of Pinarayi and the CPM, he said someone had threatened that Thomas' nose would be chopped off if he takes part in the Marxist party's seminar.
"But, nothing has happened...he took part in the programme as a Congress leader. It is learned that nothing will happen (to him)...nothing is going to happen tomorrow also. I am not going to predict anything," Pinarayi said in a sarcastic manner.
Defying the edict of his party leadership, Thomas on Thursday announced in Kochi that he would take part in the national seminar considering its contemporary significance but made it clear that he would not quit the Congress and remain as a party man till his last breath.
Thomas, who held posts like union minister and minister in the state government when the Congress was in power both at the Centre and in the state, alleged that he was humiliated to the core and subjected to harsh social media campaigns by a certain party.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had also been invited to this seminar but he was denied permission by the Congress party to attend it.