After being at loggerheads for months, the Congress on Thursday, May 12, expelled its rebel leader and former Union minister KV Thomas for alleged anti-party activities, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran said. He said Thomas was expelled from the party with the consent of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Party sources told PTI that Sudhakaran made the announcement in Udaipur in Rajasthan, where Congress' three-day 'Chintan Shivir', a brainstorming session, is starting on Friday. The party took action against Thomas hours after the veteran shared the stage with CPI(M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan in a bye-poll meeting of the left party-led front in Kochi.
The senior AICC member, who had been at loggerheads with the party's state leadership, on Wednesday said he would campaign for the ruling LDF candidate Jo Joseph in the upcoming bye-poll in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency. He, however, had reiterated that he would not quit the Congress. Addressing a press conference in Kochi, he had said, “I am always a Congressman, I will neither quit the Congress nor join any other party. I am taking part in the LDF's poll campaign also as a Congressman".
He had earlier attended a seminar organised as part of the CPI (M) party congress in April, in defiance of a party diktat. Unleashing a scathing attack against the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and the party's state leaders, he alleged there was a deliberate attempt to kick him out of the party since 2018. In a veiled attack against KPCC chief K Sudhakaran, Thomas said those who indulge in social media campaigns against him were a "paid team" led by certain leaders.