The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee's disciplinary committee on Tuesday suspended Shobhana George, an accused in the intelligence document forgery case, from the primary membership of the party for five years for openly criticising Chief Minister A K Antony.
Shobhana George represents Chengannur (in Pattanamthitta district) in the state assembly.
The MLA, who belongs to the faction headed by former chief minister K Karunakaran, had accused the chief minister of falsely implicating her in the forgery case for criticising his police policy, at a press conference at her residence. She had also demanded that Antony give up at least the home portfolio if not the chief minister's post.
The committee, headed by former KPCC president C V Padmarajan, decided to suspend her after the MLA explained her stand at a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram.
The suspension would be effective from October 6, the day she was served with a show cause notice by KPCC president K Muralidharan.
Shobhana's suspension has come as an embarrassment to the Karunakaran faction while the MLA described the action as unexpected and shocking.
She would not be asked to quit the membership of the state assembly, Padmarajan told reporters after the panel meeting. He also clarified that the suspension had got nothing to do with the forgery case, which the committee did not even discuss since it is under investigation.
Shobhana is the first leader to face action after the disciplinary committee was constituted as part of the efforts by the Congress high command to end open criticism of the Antony government by his party colleagues.
Similar show cause notices issued to Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal for floating a parallel union in the Kerala State Electricity Board and former minister T H Mustafa for criticizing Karunakaran were not referred to the committee. KPCC president had disposed off their cases on the basis of explanations offered by them.
While the duo regretted their action, Shobhana continued to deny the charge against her. She would decide her future course of action after consulting other Congress leaders, she said.
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