Kochi: Soon after the A.K.Antony-led Congress disciplinary committee meeting held to take a call on breaching of party discipline by former Union Minister K.V.Thomas, concluded on Tuesday, Thomas told the media here that let the decision come.
According to sources, the Antony committee has come up with a few recommendations, which include removing Thomas from posts, and sent it to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for further action.
Thomas is a member of the high power political affairs committee in the Kerala unit of the party and is also an AICC member.
When the media pointed out these, he said: “I cannot answer to such assumptions and let Sonia Gandhi take the decision. One thing I can tell is whatever is the decision, I will always remain a Congressman.”
Meanwhile, the Antony-led committee, declined a request from Thomas that he would like to appear in person before the committee.
Thomas has also written to Sonia seeking an appointment.
Incidentally, both Antony and Thomas were in the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 2009-14 and the latter was the State Tourism and Fisheries Minister in the cabinet of Antony in Kerala during 2001-04.
The Congress leaders from Kerala have been seeking Thomas’s immediate removal from the party following his participation in a seminar on the Centre-state relations held as part of the 23rd party congress of the CPI-M held in Kannur early this month.
The CPI-M had as part of its 23rd party congress invited Shashi Tharoor and Thomas to participate in the seminar.
State Congress party president A.K. Sudhakaran immediately informed both the leaders not to participate and even the party president Sonia intervened in the matter and told the leaders not to participate.
While Tharoor backed out, Thomas decided to go ahead with the seminar.
Seventy-five-year-old Thomas has been a Lok Sabha member from Ernakulam first from 1984 to 1996 and then he had two terms as a legislator and was a cabinet minister in the cabinet of Antony (2001-04). Then from 2009 to 2019 again he was in the Lok Sabha, when he was the Union Minister of Food (Independent charge) in the second UPA government 2009-14.
–IANS
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