CHENNAI: Even as senior Congress functionary Janardhan Dwivedi is facing flak for hailing Narendra Modi's victory in Lok Sabha elections, former Union minister P C Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram faces disciplinary action and could even be expelled from the Congress for praising the Prime Minister.

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee on Friday issued a show-cause notice to Karti, asking why he should not be expelled for his anti-party remarks at a meeting with his supporters in Chennai on Thursday, where, among other things, he had praised Modi for his "political acumen".

The show-cause notice to Karti comes at a time when the Congress is upset with Dwivedi for his remarks that Modi's victory in the elections was a "symbol of Indianness".

READ ALSO: Congress snubs Janardan Dwivedi for Modi's 'Indianness' praise

Karti, an AICC member, had praised Modi, saying: "Though I dislike Modi, he has carried the party along with him across the nation to such an extent that in the last election it was a vote for him." Karti had said that the Congress, in its present form, would not be able to poll even 5,000 votes in an election in Tamil Nadu.

Karti, who is at loggerheads with TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan, had invited representatives from all the 234 assembly constituencies to his meeting which he had called 'G67', an apparent sarcastic reference to the year 1967 when the Congress lost power in the state.

In his show-cause notice, Elangovan said that Karti's meeting turned out to be a Congress-bashing event. "This is against the Congress party, and it creates hurdles for its growth. I seek an explanation as to why you should not be expelled for creating divisions within the party," Elangovan said, adding that if Karti failed to reply before January 30, action would be taken against him.

Unperturbed, Karti told TOI on Friday that he had not read the notice. "The notice has been issued in haste by Elangovan and I am sure he has not heard the speech in full. As it is not published in the media, except social media, I thank Elangovan for giving publicity to the speech," he said.

Elangovan said he had a copy of the full speech and he issued the notice only after hearing it.

In November last year, Karti had criticised the party high command for imposing its decisions on state units and subsequently, said the party should stop talking about reviving the Kamaraj rule plank and instead focus on jobs, education, business and technology.

