Southern States - Kerala   

AICC's show-cause notice to four Ministers likely

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 25. With there being no let-up in the factionalism within the Kerala unit of the party, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has apparently decided to crack the whip and is likely to issue show cause notices to some of those leaders, including the Ministers who have been leading the "war of words" from both camps.

Evidently, eager to ensure that delay in taking action against the indiscipline within the Kerala unit over the past two months is not misconstrued as ``indecisiveness,'' as is being made out, the party's central leadership is learnt to have zeroed in on the ``show cause notice'' option as this is only an early warning.

Though the AICC leaders in the know of the Kerala developments refused to comment, sources said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, K. Muraleedharan, had been informed that show cause notices would be issued to some State leaders seeking an explanation as to why disciplinary action should not be taken against them. These include four Ministers: K.V. Thomas and K. Sudhakaran from the anti-Karunakaran group, and Kadavoor Sivadasan and P. Sankaran from the Karunakaran faction.

According to the chairman of the three-member panel looking into indiscipline during the Ernakulam bypoll, L.P. Shahi, he was not in the picture as the action being contemplated by the AICC was directed against those who had been talking about splitting the party and issuing provocative statements after the election.

``At most, their explanations will be referred to the panel,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, Vakkom B. Purushottaman, who has been in the eye of a storm over his ``partisan statements'' during the by-election, met the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, late this evening.

Soon after arriving in the capital, he met the AICC in-charge of Kerala, Ahmed Patel, at the latter's residence from where the two proceeded to meet Ms. Gandhi.

Refusing to divulge details about his conversation with Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Purushottaman said he had come to extend Diwali greetings to the Congress president. As for Mr. Patel, he maintained that there was no question of a leadership change in Kerala while refusing to confirm or deny whether the party was planning to rein in some of the State leaders through show cause notices.

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