Azad may meet Karunakaran tomorrow

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11. An end to the current impasse in the Kerala unit of the Congress appears to be in sight.

The AICC general secretary in-charge of the State, Mr. Ghulamnabi Azad, is likely to travel to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday or Saturday to meet Mr. K. Karunakaran.

The decision to send Mr. Azad was taken late tonight following the Karunakaran group's decision to cancel its rally planned for Thursday.

The party was also encouraged by `the line taken' by Mr. Karunakaran in his press conference in Thiruvanathapuram and `the positive statements' made by his son and MP, Mr. K. Murlidharan.

The Congress leadership has been concerned with the crisis in Kerala following Mr. Karunakaran's outburst.

Over the past few days, senior leaders have been privately counseling the estranged leader and working behind the scenes to bring about a rapprochement.

Mr. Karunakaran's main grouse is the denial of ticket to his daughter Ms. Padmaja Venugopal and the alleged bias in favor of the Antony group in the distribution of seats.

Yesterday the party indicated that it would be willing to accommodate Mr. Karunakaran on both the accounts.

While speaking to newspersons yesterday both Mr. Azad and party spokesperson, Mr. Jaipal Reddy, had suggested that both the questions could be looked into in the larger interests of the party.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : BJP splits in Assam
Next     : De jure temple in Ayodhya: Advani