KOTTAYAM: In what appears to be factionalism in Kerala Congress reaching its zenith, the state convention of the faction led by Scaria Thomas, which claimed to have support of the majority of party leadership, on Monday, removed P C Thomas from the post of party chairman.
Giving a major setback to P C Thomas, the convention also elected Scaria Thomas as the new chairman of the party.
The factional movements within the party, according to reports, commenced shortly before the previous Lok Sabha elections. However, the other faction led by P C Thomas will convene a separate party convention on Tuesday to declare their stance.
The meeting conducted by the Scaria faction also elected V Surendran Pillai as party working chairman and T O Abraham (in his absence) as the treasurer.
Surendran Pillai, who presided over the function, claimed 21 out of 36 members in the party central secretariat and 10 out of 14 party district committee presidents were present in the party convention.
Speaking on the occasion, Surendran said the new chairman and other functionaries were elected as P C Thomas did not attend the meeting. “The meeting was convened to sort out the issues and make way for a reunion on the basis of the directions from LDF leadership. Intimations were sent to all leaders including party chairman P C Thomas, as party disciplines cannot be compromised. We waited for P C Thomas till the end of presidential address,” he said.
The meeting assigned new chairman and working chairman to re-organise the party central secretariat in the wake of new developments and elect other functionaries including vice-chairmen and general secretaries.
Speaking after inaugurating the meeting, Scaria Thomas said his faction was not at all against bringing unity in the party or welcome back P C Thomas. Nonetheless, the parliamentary desires nurtured by P C Thomas had created issues in the party, he said.
The re-organised party would work with collective responsibility and never let another split to come again in the party.
The leaders of the party students, youth, trade union and women’s wing organisations were also present in the convention.