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Congress leader KV Thomas to attend CPI (M) seminar ignoring party’s directive
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi asked him and lawmaker Shashi Tharoor not to attend the event after the party’s state unit raised the matter with her
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader K V Thomas on Thursday said he will attend a seminar at the ongoing gathering of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) in Kerala’s Kannur even as the party chief Sonia Gandhi asked him and lawmaker Shashi Tharoor not to attend it. Gandhi’s direction came after the state unit raised the matter with her. Tharoor later said he will go by the directive.
“The Congress and CPI (M) are coming closer at the national level against the communal agenda of the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. And the seminar is on Centre-state relations and I feel nothing wrong with attending it.” He said state-level differences between two parties should be kept aside to address a national threat.
“I am a born Congressman. I would like to remain with it. Nobody can browbeat me. Only the AICC [All India Congress Committee] can expel me,” he said. He was responding to state Congress president K Sudhakaran’s comments that those who attend the CPI (M) meet will be expelled.
Thomas said he suffered enough humiliations and insults. “They cite my age to sideline me. But there are many in the party who are senior to me. ...the positions I got in the party are through my sheer hard work and commitment,” said Thomas, a four-time Member of Parliament.
Thomas was denied the Lok Sabha ticket from Ernakulam in 2019. He later unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections.
Thomas’s decision to attend the event comes amid reports that CPI(M) may back him as an independent candidate for the Thrikkakara assembly by-election. CPI (M) Politburo member M A Babu said if Thomas leaves the Congress, they will accommodate him.
The CPI (M) has invited leaders of other parties for seminars on Centre-state relations and secularism. Sudhakaran said he asked Congress leaders to stay away to respect the sentiments of the people and in view of the “government’s indifferent attitude towards popular protest against the high-speed K Rail project”.
CPI (M) criticised the directive and accused Congress of playing into BJP’s hands.
