Kochi, May 6 (IANS) The CPI-M and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are deeply upset with former Congress leader K.V. Thomas, presently the representative of Kerala in New Delhi, over his remarks appreciating the role played by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in going forward with the now-commissioned Vizhinjam Port.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (May 2) dedicated the first phase of the Port.
On the day of commissioning, Vijayan and the State Ports Minister, V.N. Vasavan, spoke before PM Modi, but they did not mention a word about the role played by Chandy.
However, Thomas took to his Facebook and posted that it would not be fair if he didn’t express the role played by Chandy, and it was under him that the foundation stone for the construction of the Vizhinjam Port was laid in 2015.
Incidentally, the Congress-led UDF leaders have condemned the way Vijayan and the Left government remained silent on the role played by Chandy and his government in going forward with the Port project.
As soon as the post of Thomas surfaced in the public domain, there was a lot of resentment against him, as this became fodder for the Congress party and its workers, who made the post go viral. Vijayan and the CPI-M are understood to have expressed their strong resentment at Thomas’ plain speaking.
79-year-old Thomas was a close aide of former AICC president Sonia Gandhi and was a Union Minister with independent charge in the second UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh.
Thomas, in his long political career, won five terms to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Kerala Assembly and was a cabinet minister in the A.K. Antony cabinet.
But after he was denied his sitting Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Thomas became upset and started distancing himself from the Congress party and was cosying up with the CPI-M and Vijayan.
By then, Thomas, who decided to split with the Congress party, defied the Party High Command when he attended the 23rd CPI-M Party held at Kannur in 2022, and he was booted out when he appeared in the Thrikkakara Assembly by-election campaign of the Left candidate, which was inaugurated by Vijayan.
In 2023, Vijayan appointed Thomas as the Kerala representative in Delhi and was given a cabinet rank with a big pay packet, including other perks.
But with Thomas’ statement now making both the CPI-M and Vijayan annoyed, it remains to be seen if he is going to be booted out or if the CM will pardon him for speaking the truth.
–IANS
sg/uk
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