Kerala: K V Thomas defies Congress, attends CPI(M) seminar in Kannur; heaps praises on CM Vijayan
The state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan welcomed KV Thomas by gifting him a photo of Jesus Christ. He shared the platform with Vijayan and his Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supremo M K Stalin.
Denouncing the "ideological position" of the Congress, senior party leader K V Thomas on Saturday took part in a national seminar organised by the CPI(M) in Kannur and hailed Marxist veteran and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the 'pride of Kerala, prompting the KPCC to write to party chief Sonia Gandhi recommending "strict and befitting disciplinary action" against him.
Immediately after Thomas shared the dais with Vijayan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin in the seminar on Centre-state relations organised by the ruling CPI(M) as part of its ongoing 23rd Party Congress, KPCC Chief and party's Kannur strongman, K Sudhakaran MP, slammed the AICC member, alleging that his decision to attend the event was "pre-planned" and said he would be shown the door.
Chief Minister Vijayan, while speaking at the meeting, said Thomas was invited to the CPI(M) seminar as a representative of the Congress party and he is now taking part in the conference also as a Congressman. As Thomas faced expulsion threats from his party leaders, Vijayan hinted that the CPI(M) will give asylum to the veteran Congressman, asserting that "nothing will happen to him".
The former union minister and five-time MP, who has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership for some time, received a thunderous applause by the Marxist party activists when he arrived at the seminar venue here and said he was attending the programme as a member of a Congress family in a famous fishermen village called Kumbalangi in Kochi.
In his address, Thomas justified his decision to attend the seminar, recalling a speech of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Parliament where he attacked the BJP Government, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dispensation has launched a frontal attack on the idea of the Indian union of state.
The former Union Minister called for a larger alliance of the Congress, Left and the like-minded parties to counter BJP at the national level. Addressing the huge gathering of CPI(M) activists as "comrades and friends", Thomas began his speech lavishing praise on Vijayan and his administrative capabilities and development agenda. "When I see you (audience), I feel my decision to come and attend this programme is absolutely correct. I believe that my arrival has become a strength for the Congress party also," he said.
The Congress leader extended whole-hearted support to Vijayan government's ambitious Silver Line semi high speed rail corridor project which is being vehemently opposed by his party. Thomas said there is no need to oppose a development project just because it was brought by Vijayan.
Taking a dig at his party colleagues, Thomas also said Vijayan was working in a situation where everybody opposes him except people of the state.
"Pinarayi Vijayan is the pride of Kerala. Not just me, Stalin also shared the same view about the Kerala chief minister during his speech," he said. In his address, Vijayan took a dig at the Congress leadership who had warned Thomas not to take part in the CPI(M) seminar, saying nothing has happened to the senior leader even after he announced his decision to participate in the event and nothing big is going to happen tomorrow also.
Without mentioning the name of KPCC chief and Kannur strongman Sudhakaran, a political archrival of Vijayan and the CPI(M), 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 learnt that nothing will happen (to him)...nothing is going to happen tomorrow also. I am not going to predict anything," Vijayan said sarcastically.
The Marxist veteran concluded his speech thanking Thomas for sticking to his stand and fulfilling his word to attend the national seminar. During the welcome speech, CPI(M) district secretary M V Jayarajan also criticised the Congress and Sudhakaran for banning leaders from taking part in the Left seminar.
Thomas, who enjoys a considerable clout among Latin Christians in coastal Kerala, was welcomed by draping a shawl and gifting a photo of Jesus Christ by the CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan at the dais. The Congress slammed Thomas for violating the party discipline.
Talking to reporters, Sudhakaran accused Thomas of "ditching" the party which made him union minister, state minister, MLA and MP on various occasions and said he would be expelled from the party.
In his letter to the AICC president, Sudhakaran said the KPCC leadership had unanimously decided not to accept the invitation to the Party Congress of CPI(M) in Kannur, "the district where 80 Congressmen were brutally murdered" by the Left party over the past years. "Upon deliberations with senior Congress leaders in Kerala, we conclude that K V Thomas has violated the Party decorum, discipline and he has acted in contradiction to the directions of Congress Party. Therefore, as President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, I recommend you to take strict and befitting disciplinary action against K V Thomas," Sudhakaran said in the letter, a copy of which was released to the media here.
The KPCC chief said Thomas had also addressed press conferences over the last two days, denouncing the ideological position of the Congress party and its political agenda. "During his interactions with the media, he has made belittling statements against the AICC and state leadership, which has deeply hurt the sentiments of party cadres and the families of martyrs who gave their lives for the existence of our party," Sudhakaran added.
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 partyman 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 certain partymen. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had also been invited for this seminar but he was denied permission by the Congress party to attend it.
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