The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has expelled veteran leader K.V. Thomas from the party's primary membership. The party high command has reportedly backed the KPCC decision.
A KPCC office-bearer said on Thursday that Prof. Thomas had stepped way out of the party line for the second time in two months by publicly aligning himself with the CPI(M) governance agenda. Last month, Prof.. Thomas defied the diktat from Congress president Sonia Gandhi by attending a seminar hosted by the CPI(M) at the 23rd party congress in Kannur.
The KPCC also felt that Prof. Thomas had repeatedly thrown down the gauntlet to the party leadership by allegedly undermining its position on K-Rail (SilverLine) and other touchy political issues.
Recently, Prof. Thomas, who claims to have a firm base among the numerically significant Christian community in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency, had declared for the Left Democratic Front's ""development plan" in the run-up to the pivotal bypoll. He stated that he would actively campaign for the CPI(M) candidate Jo Joseph against his late colleague P.T. Thomas's wife and Congress nominee Uma Thomas.
