After the Congress disciplinary committee issued a show-cause notice to senior party leader KV Thomas for attending a seminar hosted by the CPI (M), former Union Minister charged that he's a victim of "discrimination" meted out to him by the Kerala Congress leaders.
Thomas is facing heat in the state unit of the Congress after attending the CPI(M) seminar in Kannur.
The former Union Minister had lauded the state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for completing key infrastructure projects in the state, saying he's one of the good CMs in the country.
Seeking to counterattack the state Congress chief K Sudhakaran, Thomas claimed that a "particular vocabulary" is being used against him for attending the Kannur conference.
"Senior Congress leaders had denied permission to me to attend the CPI(M) seminar. I conveyed this message to the senior leadership of CPI(M) and told them that I wouldn't be attending. From the next day onwards, K Sudhakaran started accusing me, using a 'particular vocabulary' against me," Thomas told ANI.
Sudhakaran has charged Thomas' action (of attending the Kannur seminar) amounts to betraying the party.
"He has been given a week to reply. I was the one who tried to prevent him from going to the seminar. I had even spoken to him the day before he was going to the seminar. I had requested him not to go. Can he obey everything the CPIM tells him? He is a man who doesn't obey the party," Sudhakaran told mediapersons here.
Meanwhile, the KPCC chief also wrote to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi demanding "strict and befitting disciplinary action" against Thomas.
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor, who was also invited to the seminar, had declined the invitation.
Former Defence Minister AK Antony heads the Congress disciplinary committee.
( With inputs from ANI )
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