The All India Congress Committee (AICC) appears to have denied “dissident” Congress leader K.V. Thomas an opportunity of playing the martyr by stopping short of expelling him from the party’s primary membership.
According to Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office-bearers, the AICC's disciplinary action committee headed by A.K. Antony has urged the high command to strip Mr. Thomas of his lofty standing in the organisational hierarchy and relegate him to the relatively subaltern role of a booth-level Congress worker for at least two years.
At present, Mr. Thomas holds membership in the AICC and the KPCC's political affairs committee. He has promised to remain a Congress worker and abide by national president Sonia Gandhi's decision.
A KPCC insider said the AICC had backpedalled on outright expulsion because the Congress did not want to render Mr. Thomas a disruptive force ahead of the crucial Thrikkakkara Assembly byelection.
The bypoll is widely regarded as the touchstone of the government's performance. It could also provide a yardstick to gauge the public's mood about K-Rail.
Worryingly for the KPCC, Mr. Thomas has harped on about his "firm base" in the predominantly Congress Latin Catholic community in Ernakulam and alleged victimisation because of his fisherfolk roots.
The Congress did not want to accord the ruling front an advantage by pushing Mr. Thomas off the fence and making him land on the CPI(M) side. “There is much at stake at Thrikkakkara,” a Congress insider said.
The KPCC had recommended disciplinary action against Mr. Thomas for attending a seminar on the sidelines of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)‘s 23rd party congress in Kannur in flagrant violation of a diktat from Ms. Gandhi.
Mr. Thomas had justified his action by stating that the event was a national seminar on the Centre's infringement on federalism. The Congress was crusading against the Centre's trespasses on the jurisdictional and fiscal authority of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States. Hence, his presentation was consistent with the Congress's position.
Nonetheless, Mr. Thomas faced intense criticism in the KPCC. Leaders, cutting across factional lines, felt Mr. Thomas had dishonoured the memory of scores of Congress workers killed by CPI(M) cadres in Kannur by allowing himself to be feted at the party congress venue and endorsing K-Rail.
