[ad_1]
In response to the party council’s decision, politicians argue that this shows that the party is gradually becoming radicalized.
“In fact, you can see that the party is slipping or moving towards radicalization,” Skvernel told BNS on Friday.
According to him, T. Tomilinas was one of the most important shapers of the party’s identity.
“It seems to me that Tom has been a member of the party for two decades, who has really been very active in shaping the identity of the party, especially the social policy, the democratic traditions in the party,” said the former head of government.
T. Tomilinas, who was recently involved in the conflict with peasant leader Ramūnas Karbauskis, was expelled from the LVŽS party by decision of the party council on Friday.
A public conflict between R. Karbauskis and T. Tomilinas arose when he voted in the spring for a bill that would legalize a gender-neutral association.
Then R. Karbauskis claimed that T. Tomilinas had betrayed the party’s values and the peasants offered him to retire from party positions.
S. Skvernelis says the decision to remove T. Tomilin from the game because of a different opinion is strange.
“And due to the fact that he had a different opinion than the majority of the party on one issue, it seems strange to me, but other things are similar. You know, before the presidential election suspicions are also raised against potential rivals, here real candidates are eliminated before the presidential election, ”said S. Skvernelis.
He also has the support of European Commissioner V. Sinkevičius, who also believes that his intention to participate in the election of the party leader contributed to the decision to remove T. Tomilinas from the party.
“It just came to our attention then. Probably the last step was when Tom announced that he would still run for president. It was decided that there could be no elections,” V. Sinkevičius told BNS.
According to him, R. Karbauskis’s desire to remove T. Tomilinas from the party may have been determined not by a real fear of losing the position of president, but by avoiding discussions.
“I just didn’t want to argue, answer awkward questions, participate in debates and things like that. I think this was a crucial moment, ”said the European Commissioner.
V. Sinkevičius claimed that T. Tomilinas had resigned from the LVŽS for many years and was a loyal member of the party, but the party quickly began to change from center left to radical right.
According to him, this happened after the change of environment of R. Karbauskis and “the appearance of especially conservative, uncreative, but destructive, angry people”.
“It just came to our attention then. Some did not understand that turn, others simply did not want to understand it, but there was no more detailed discussion about that change,” said V. Sinkevičius.
The politician claimed that he felt sorry and hurt by what was happening in the party, but was trying to refrain from more active participation in its activities or important decisions while working as a commissioner.
