KV Thomas has had a tussle with the party’s state leadership
Thiruvananthapuram:
KPCC chief K Sudhakaran said the Congress on Thursday expelled its rebel leader and former Union minister KV Thomas for alleged anti-party activities.
He said Mr Thomas was expelled from the party with the consent of the AICC.
Party sources in Thiruvananthapuram said Mr Sudhakaran made the announcement in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, where the Congress’s three-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ is starting from Friday.
The party acted against Mr Thomas hours after he shared the stage with CPI(M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a by-poll meeting of the Left-led Front in Kochi.
Senior AICC members, who were at loggerheads with the party’s state leadership, said on Wednesday that he would campaign for the ruling LDF candidate Joe Joseph in the upcoming bypolls to Thrikkakara assembly constituency.
However, he had reiterated that he would not leave the Congress.
Addressing a press conference in Kochi, he had said, “I am always a Congressman… I will neither leave Congress nor join any other party. I also participated in LDF’s election campaign as a Congressman. I’m taking.”
He had earlier attended a seminar organized as part of the CPI(M) party Congress in April, in defiance of a party decree.