Congress disciplinary panel issues notices to KV Thomas, Sunil Jakhar

The A K Antony-headed panel’s move against Thomas comes after the party leadership in Kerala sought action against him after the former MP attended a seminar organised by the CPM on the sidelines of the party’s national conclave in Kannur.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran had asked Thomas as well as Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor to refrain from participating in the seminar.

Tharoor and Thomas then took the matter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who advised them not to attend the seminar since the KPCC had taken a public stand on the issue. While Tharoor complied, Thomas did not pay heed and attended the seminar on Saturday, prompting Sudhakaran to write to Gandhi, recommending strict and befitting disciplinary action against him.

Thomas has been upset with the leadership for some time. In fact, while announcing his decision to attend the seminar, he had argued that he had not got an appointment with party leader Rahul Gandhi since 2018.

At the seminar, he addressed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as “comrades” and referred to the chief minister as an able administrator.

He also expressed his support for the controversial SilverLine semi-high speed rail corridor project. “Why should I oppose K-rail? If the project is beneficial for Kerala, all should stand united. Land has to be acquired for all projects.

That Pinarayi Vijayan introduced the project should not be a reason for objecting to it — Vijayan is one of the best CMs and the pride of Kerala,” he had said.

In his letter to Sonia, Sudhakaran said Thomas had denounced Congress’s ideology and political agenda, and his participation at the CPI(M) event had hurt the sentiments of the families of the 80 Congressmen who were killed by the Communists in Kannur over the years. He wrote that Thomas’s decision to attend the seminar was planned and that he had been in touch with the CPI(M) for the last one year.

Jakhar, meanwhile, has been accused of using “objectionable language” against Dalits. While he did not name anyone, his comments in a television interview were seen to be aimed at former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Jakhar had hit out at Channi earlier saying that he had been a liability for the party.

Referring to reports that some senior Congress leaders had, at a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, argued that the state leadership did not support Channi, “an asset Rahul Gandhi created for Punjab and India”, he tweeted on March 14: “An asset – r u joking? Thank God he wasn’t declared a ‘National Treasure’ at CWC by the ‘Pbi’ lady who proposed him as CM in first place. May be an asset for her but for the party he has been only a liability. Not the top brass, but his own greed pulled him and the party down.”

The Punjabi lady he referred to was senior party leader and MP Ambika Soni, who is also a member of the disciplinary action committee.