The Congress on Wednesday expelled the K Karunakaran faction's nominee, Kadoth Govindan Nair, who had remained in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections from Kerala despite the wishes of party president Sonia Gandhi.
The son of Karunakaran and Pradesh Congress Committee president, K Muraleedharan, wrote a letter to Nair expelling him for six years, party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said in New Delhi.
In the letter, Muraleedharan expressed 'distress' and said the action was taken under Article 19 (f-5) of the party constitution.
In another letter to party legislators, the PCC president told them that All India Congress Committee general secretary Vayalar Ravi and former PCC president Thennala Balakrishna Pillai were the official candidates of the party.
Muraleedharan asked the MLAs to be present in the assembly on April 14 and vote in favour of the official nominees.
Nair said the high command's decision was based 'on information collected unilaterally without taking the political realities in the state into account'.
"This is not a mature decision," he said in Kannur.
"The leader [Karunakaran] has called me. I will consult him and decide on what to do," Nair, who was on his way to Thiruvananthapuram, said.
He said out of the 62 Congress legislators, 27 supported him.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Karunakaran said a compromise was difficult.
He said, "Now things have slipped out of my hands.
"No one needs to harbour any doubt that Govindan Nair will win with a convincing margin."
