Thiruvananthapuram- Kerala State Congress president K.Sudhakaran on Wednesday asserted that if veteran leader K.V.Thomas decides to attend the seminar at the 23rd CPI-M Party Congress, then it’s curtains for him.
“If he decides to attend the seminar, then it’s certain that he does not want to be in the Congress party anymore. I spoke to him yesterday and he told me that he has never said that he will be taking part in it. I feel that he will not be attending the seminar,” said party state president K.Sudhakaran to the media.
Like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Kannur is the home town of Sudhakaran, where the two are involved in a long running feud. If the CPI-M manages to bring in Thomas, it could be a big slap on Sudhakaran’s face and the veteran leader will be definitely out of the party for good.
The seminar on Centre-state relations is slated for Saturday and the participants include Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin.
Chief organiser of the event and top CPI-M leader M.V.Jayarajan only that said Thomas has invited to speak at the seminar.
Asked if Thomas is all set to join the CPI-M, he said: “We have invited him to take part in the seminar and other things, it’s upto him to decide,” said a smiling Jayarajan.
Meanwhile, Thomas said that he is meeting the media on Thursday at 11 a.m.
Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan said Thomas was his teacher at the college and has high respects for him.
“The event is being held at Kannur and none should forget that numerous Congress workers blood has fallen in the soils of Kannur and that should not be forgotten,” said Satheesan.
Incidentally, Shashi Tharoor also was an invitee along with Thomas and last week, the party high command had asked both the leaders not not attend the seminar.
But the final list of speakers was out of Tuesday, it included Thomas’s name. Soon after, speculations about him attending the event started doing rounds.
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 A.K.Antony (2001-04). Then from 2009 to 2019 again he was in the Lok Sabha.
Thomas has been upset with the party for a while now after he was first denied a Lok Sabha seat in 2019 polls. He again made a valiant attempt to get a seat to contest in the 2021 April Assembly polls but that too failed to materialise.
Since then, speculations were rife that Thomas might cross over to the CPI-M and there is also a talk that he might be even fielded by the CPI-M as an independent candidate from the Thrikakara Assembly seat, which is lying vacant following the death of Congress veteran P.T.Thomas who passed away due to cancer.
The Congress is planning to field the widow of Thomas- Uma and here too Thomas is understood to have made a move to get the seat, which was also turned down by Sudhakaran and others.
–IANS
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