'I' group ready for ceasefire?

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, APRIL 11. Dropping hints that the Karunakaran group is ready for a ceasefire provided it got a face-saving concession from the Congress leadership, the KPCC vice-president, Mr. K. Muraleedharan, on Wednesday welcomed ``any initiative by anyone'' to resolve the current crisis in the party.

This assumes significance in the backdrop of the report that a two-member trouble-shooting mission from the High Command would be arriving in the State shortly.

``We are ready for any talks at the initiative of anyone to resolve the crisis,'' Mr. Muraleedharan, told presspersons here. ``We want to go forward after solving this problem,'' he said. This was because ``an atmosphere of a UDF victory'' existed in the State right now.

He said his group had put forward certain proposals for an amicable settlement of the issue. ``We want the three or four seats we lost to be returned.''

No rebel candidates

Mr. Muraleedharan said the Karunakaran group had not sponsored - and would not sponsor - any rebel candidate in the election. ``There will be only one UDF candidate in the constituencies after the nomination date expires,'' he asserted. ``Those still remaining in the fray after the nomination date will face disciplinary action,'' he said.

He also hinted that the group would not insist on a seat for his sister, Ms. Padmaja, over which the whole crisis had erupted. ``She has already stated that she does not want a seat that comes after such a big controversy,'' he said. Meanwhile,

the UDF candidate in Chalakkudy, Ms. Savitri Laxman, who was made to send a fax to the Congress High Command expressing her willingness to `vacate' the seat for Ms. Padmaja, has started a full-fledged campaign in her constituency. Ms. Laxman is reported to have said that she had received a nod from the top to go ahead and she would not be asked to vacate again.

He said the burning of the effigies of Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala affairs, by a crowd of his group's supporters was wrong. ``That should not have happened,'' he said.

Soft on Antony

Mr. Muraleedharan, was remarkably soft on Mr. Antony today. He conceded that Mr. Antony was the `leader of the UDF'. Referring to Mr. Antony's remarks at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, Mr. Muraleedharan said, ``Being the leader of the UDF, he should have exercised self-restraint.'' Unfortunately, he added, that was not to be.

Asked about Mr. Antony's remarks about nominating Mr. Muraleedharan to a Lok Sabha seat in 1989, the latter said, ``Mr. Antony himself had told a public meeting some time back that `Time had proved his decision right.' Then how can he contradict it now?''

He also climbed down from the group's earlier stand that AICC leaders would not be allowed to campaign for the `I' candidates. ``Has Mr. Karunakaran said so?'' he countered. By way of an explanation, he said that Central leaders would need big audiences and big meeting-infrastructures which the Congress could not afford now as it did not have the money like the CPI(M). ``We State leaders can address a meeting even if there is only a microphone and two chairs. That's not the case with Central leaders,'' he said.

He did not blame the UDF partners, particularly the IUML, in asking the Congress leaders to patch up before the nomination date. Since the Congress was the leader of the UDF coalition, the partners were genuinely worried about the crisis in the Congress, he said. ``This is perfectly understandable and we take it in that spirit,'' he said.

Mr. Muraleedharan took care not to make any offending remarks about Mr. Antony, the `A' Group or the party's central leadership.

The group's climbdown may be because of the realisation that the group has gone too far. Perhaps, it does not want to upset the `winning chances' of the UDF. If the UDF loses the election, the Karunakaran group will forever be blamed for it. However, the group is deeply worried about the general impression among the people that the current crisis is not about issues but about a seat for Mr. Karunakaran's daughter.

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Section  : Southern States
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