The Hindu : Karunakaran's threat unfortunate, says Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

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National

Karunakaran's threat unfortunate, says Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Within a couple of hours of the veteran Congressman, K. Karunakaran, threatening to float his own party, the Congress today ruled out taking any initiative to mend fences with him, while keeping open a channel of communication should he make an overture.

Briefing mediapersons here, the head of the three-member sub-committee addressing the Kerala crisis, Pranab Mukherjee, said the Congress had no plans to contact Mr. Karunakaran. "The answer is `No'," he said in response to repeated questions on whether efforts would be made to bring round the octogenarian leader round. However, the Congress did not rule out the possibility of a patch-up with the AICC in-charge of Kerala and member of the sub-committee, Ahmed Patel, saying "let us see the response from that side." Add to this Mr. Mukherjee's statement that the party had not given up. "We are just reacting to his statement."

This apart, the official Congress reaction to the developments in Kerala was a four-line statement read out by Mr. Mukherjee: "It is unfortunate that Mr. Karunakaran has expressed his intention to form a new party. For the past several weeks, we have tried to accommodate his demands by giving various options completely ignoring his open criticism of the Congress Government in the State and the central leadership. This was only because of his long association with the party. We could not meet his demand for replacing the Chief Minister, who enjoys the confidence of the majority in the Congress Legislature Party."

Refusing to be drawn into commenting on whether Mr. Karunakaran's latest statement amounted to indiscipline, Mr. Mukherjee said: "This is a question of total disassociation. The Congress constitution states that if he becomes a member of another party, he ceases to be a member of the party." As for the fate of the MLAs who choose to ally with Mr. Karunakaran, he said they would be governed by the latest amendment to the anti-defection law. About Mr. Karunakaran's own status, the answer was: "Till he leaves, he is a member of the party."

Prior to the briefing, the troika — the third member being R. K. Dhawan — went into a huddle soon after Mr. Karunakaran's much-publicised announcement at an `I' group leaders meet in Thiruvananthapuram this afternoon. Later, they went to 10 Janpath to brief the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and prepare the party's official line on the evolving situation.

Mr. Patel said he had spoken to the senior leader prior to his announcement. During that conversation, Mr. Karunakaran told Mr. Patel that efforts to settle the issue by inducting the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, K. Muraleedharan, into the State Cabinet was not acceptable to him. When asked to spell out his demands, Mr. Karunakaran told Mr. Patel that he would get back to him later in the day; a call that Ms. Gandhi's political secretary was "still awaiting."

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