Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Sudhakaran's remarks on Karunakaran criticised

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Oct. 14. The `I' faction in the State Congress today launched a scathing attack on the Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, for his statements alleging that the veteran Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, had asked him to work against the party candidate in Kannur in the previous two Lok Sabha elections.

The spokesman of the group, Rajmohan Unnithan, said here today that Mr. Sudhakaran was ousted from the faction because of his cruel methods in liquidating political opponents. He said that it was for Mullappally Ramachandran, who was the party candidate in Kannur, and P.C. Chacko (who was also bracketed along with Mr. Ramachandran), to answer Mr. Sudhakaran's charge. He said that Mr. Ramachandran, with whom he had the opportunity to work while in the Youth Congress, had repeatedly mentioned that Mr. Sudhakaran was primarily responsible for his defeat.

Mr. Unnithan said that the differences of opinion between Mr. Sudhakaran and the `I' group grew with his misappropriation of the Orissa cyclone relief fund, mobilised by the KPCC. When all the DCCs of other 13 districts remitted the mobilised amount, Mr. Sudhakaran, who was the DCC president at that time, did not do so.

The faction had also taken objection to his frequent Chennai visit while he was DCC president as this had affected the party's functioning in the district. He had been continuing with his Chennai visit even after becoming Minister, Mr. Unnithan said.

Mr. Sudhakaran had himself admitted that of the 43 visits he had made to Chennai after becoming Minister, only three were official. While the Karunakaran faction did not want to pry into private affairs of party leaders, the onus was on the Chief Minister to state whether these visits were official and if not, whether the amount had been recovered from the Minister, Mr. Unnithan said.

He said that Mr. Sudhakaran had brought disrepute to the party through his alleged involvement in the Nalpadi Vasu case. Mr. Unnithan alleged that the DCC secretary, who belonged to his own group, had given a statement to the police regarding some of his private affairs. The DCC secretary was rewarded with a physical attack for having dared to give such a testimony.

In reply to a question, Mr. Unnithan said the UDF convener, Oommen Chandy, who was spearheading the conventions of the anti-Karunakaran groups, was only implementing the ``hidden agenda'' of the Antony faction to oust Mr. Antony as Chief Minister and install Mr. Chandy in his place.

A majority of the Antony faction leaders were dissatisfied with the Chief Minister's positions, he added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• By-polls to local bodies on Nov. 27
• Sudhakaran's remarks on Karunakaran criticised

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu