“Thangkabalu has no powers to expel workers: Jayakumar

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.V. Thangkabalu has no powers to expel party workers, party secretary and sitting MLA K. Jayakumar said here on Saturday.

(During the past few days, more than 25 Congressmen, including sitting MLA of Mylapore S.Ve. Shekher, have been expelled from the party.)

He told

The Hindu that as per the party constitution, powers for initiating disciplinary action has been delegated only to two committees — the first led by former State unit chief Kumari Ananthan at the State level and the other headed by Union Minister A.K. Antony at the national level.

The State-level committee had no powers to act against All India Congress Committee members, MPs, etc. To initiate disciplinary action, it was imperative that the accused be given 15 days' notice.

“There is a set of rules and all of them will have to go through the same procedure. As there is total confusion at present with the TNCC president claiming he has powers to expel party workers and the affected disputing it, I thought it is my bounden duty as the secretary of the party to clarify the position. Mr. Thangkabalu has no powers and hence his disciplinary action against the party workers is illegal.”

Our Special Correspondent from New Delhi writes:

AICC sources in New Delhi said that PCC presidents had powers to take such action in exigencies to protect the party's image and later refer the matter to the disciplinary committee for ratification.

Party media department Chairman Janardhan Dwivedi told The Hindu that though he did not want to comment on the reported action of the TNCC president without knowing exactly what had happened. Generally speaking, the State Congress presidents could take disciplinary action against functionaries for anti-party activities.

This would not apply to senior functionaries such as AICC members, Congress Working Committee members and State-level senior office-bearers. In such cases the case had to be referred to either the State level or national level disciplinary committee.

Sources in the TNCC said except the post of State Congress president, which was nominated by the AICC president, no other posts in the Tamil Nadu Congress existed now as no organisational election were held in view of the Assembly polls.

Even in the case of S.Ve. Shekhar, he was representing only the AIADMK in the Assembly and not the Congress.

With the Assembly poll held on April 13 his membership in Assembly too had become infructuous.

“Technically he cannot still be considered an MLA,” they claimed.

Example

An AICC senior office-bearer pointed out to the example of action taken by Bihar PCC president Choudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser, who expelled five State Congress functionaries for anti-party activities recently and later sent the decision to the disciplinary committee for ratification.