KC(M) suspends P.C. Thomas

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 29. The Kerala Congress(M) today suspended dissident leader, Mr. P.C. Thomas, from the party on charges of anti-party activities.

The decision to suspend Mr. Thomas was unanimously taken by the State committee of the Kerala Congress(M) here today, according to a party spokesman.

The committee issued an 11-point chargesheet justifying its decision to suspend Mr. Thomas, who had already cut his way out of the party by floating his own outfit, the National Farmers Front.

The 11-point chargesheet accused him of habouring ambitions of joining the BJP-led NDA Ministry at the Centre and for engineering a split and float an alternative to the Kerala Congress(M) to achieve his aim.

He was also given the sack for his close association with Mr. Scaria Thomas, who was earlier suspended from the party.

The suspension was apparently a mere formality in the light of the last one week's development. The State committee said that it had refrained from taking strong action against Mr. Thomas because of its nostalgic association with the late P.T. Chacko, father of Mr. Thomas.

Mr. Thomas was given time to correct his mistakes, but he continued to be defiant. The party committee claimed that it was responsible for Mr. Thomas emergence as a political leader and his action was one of ingratitude.

Our Staff Reporter adds from Kottayam: The ousted Kerala Congress(M) leader, Mr. P.C. Thomas, MP, today said that the disciplinary action against him was unconstitutional as the party does not have a chairman today as per the party constitution.

At a hurriedly called press conference, he, however, made it clear that he was not going to hang on to technicalities as he felt that the party leader, Mr. K.M. Mani, had `dismissed' him mentally long back on account of his stance on the issue of Mr. Mani's son entering politics.

He felt sad on the decision of the party secretariat to suspend him as he had made every effort to uphold the party flag at the national-level fighting the battle for the farming community during the past 14 years, he said.

According to him, his intimacy with the BJP was with the full knowledge of the party and any effort to isolate him on the issue was an effort to tarnish his image.

Mr. Thomas said that he would decide his future course of action only in consultation with those who are in touch with him. However, he would move ahead with the functioning of the National Farmers' Front and the nine-member forum of MPs in the Lok Sabha. At present, entry into the Union Cabinet was not on his agenda, he said.

He said the continuance of Mr. C.F. Thomas as party chairman had no validity as he had resigned the post on his becoming a Minister in the UDF Government and no one was duly elected in his place.

``Ironically, it was Mr. C.F. Thomas who presided over today's meeting that recommended action against me,'' Mr. Thomas said.

Mr. Thomas claimed that a majority of Kerala Congress workers and several senior leaders would support him in his fight against authoritarian tendencies in the party.

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Section  : Southern States
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