india

Updated: Jun 03, 2019 15:34 IST

The Congress’ Kerala unit on Monday expelled former lawmaker A P Abdullakutty from the party for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for following Mahatma Gandhi’s values.

In a Facebook post last week, A P Abdullakutty had said Prime Minister Modi won handsomely for the second time because he inculcated Gandhian values in governance.

“This victory is a reward for governance strategies and development agenda of the Modi government. What made him so popular was that he inculcated enough Gandhian values in governance,” he said citing the Swacchh Bharat mission and free LPG connections to the poor.

“Gandhi once told his followers when you create a policy, think the face of the poorest person you may have met in your life. Modi has done exactly that. Through ‘Swacchh Bharat’ he gave toilets to 9.26 crore families and gave free LPG connections to six crore families,” he said in the post.

The party had sought an explanation from him for his remarks in favour of the Prime Minister.

Kerala Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran said Abdullhakutty’s explanation was not satisfactory and he continued to raise allegations against some of the state leaders.

But Abdullhakutty said the party action was on the expected line and that he will continue to serve people.

There is strong speculation that he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has already welcomed the leader from the minority community.

Soon after Abdullhakutty’s post, many Congress leaders criticised him and sought action against him. But he maintained that he only pointed out the flaws in party policies and wanted the Congress to correct them.

As a CPI(M) leader, Abdullhakutty represented Kannur in the Lok Sabha seat from 1999 to 2009 and after his expulsion from the party, the Congress made him a legislator twice.

He had been sulking after he was denied a seat in the April-May Lok Sabha elections.