New Delhi, Sep 28 (UNI) Kanhaiya Kumar expelled himself from the CPI, party leader D Raja said on Tuesday after the former students' leader joined the Congress, adding that he was not truthful to the party about his plans to shift.
"It is an opportunistic move, Kanhaiya Kumar has expelled himself from the party," Raja said.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) leader said Kumar was not truthful, and did not inform the party about his plan to join the Congress.
"He was not straightforward and truthful to the party. Speculations were going on for so many days, he didn't say anything," he said.
Talking about the CPI, the oldest among the Left parties in India, Raja said, "Communist party is a party that has certain principles, certain discipline, no one is above the party, we do not believe in personality cult".
"Communist party was there even before he came to our fold, Communist party will be there after him," he added.
Kumar joined the Congress on Tuesday evening, with scores of supporters thronging the Congress office, and a number of billboards covering the boundary walls and trees outside the party headquarter.
Asked about leaving the Left, he said: "I was born in that party. But the way they were working, there was a need to speed it up. There is a need to break the narrow mindset".
Kumar had fought the Lok Sabha election in 2019 on a CPI ticket from Begusarai but lost to BJP stalwart Giriraj Singh.
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