Kochi: Congress leader P T Thomas, 70, passed away at Vellore Medical College due to Cancer, media reports said.
A straightforward leader, PT, as he was popularly known, had tremendous political maturity and acceptance among the public. Alas, the party which he represented did not acknowledge his abilities and his talent remained untapped in the crossfire between party rivals.
As it was essential to have affiliations with any of the groups, Thomas was in the ‘A’ group and had earned the wrath of Karunakaran loyalists for joining hands with Oommen Chandy to flush out Karunakaran in the ISRO spy case in the early nineties.
But, Thomas did not get his due despite remaining attached to the group led by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
A four-time MLA and once an MP, Thomas faced the worst time in his life when the Church turned against him for his support of the Madhav Gadgil panel’s recommendations to protect the western ghats. A journalist had in a lighter vein asked him during that time whether he had plans to join the BJP at a time when Congress-led UPA was ruling at the centre.
Several Christian priests had taken to the streets abusing Thomas then. Thomas stood like a rock and did not succumb to any pressure. This helped the rivals within the ‘A’ group opposing Thomas to sabotage his chance to fight the 2014 parliament polls from Idukki.
Since then he was elected to the assembly twice from Trikkakara. Thomas set examples by marrying his college mate belonging to a different community despite opposition from his own people.
