Southern States - Kerala   

Cong. leadership not worried about `I' group rally

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI NOV. 15. Despite the preparations being made by the `I' group in the Kerala unit of the Congress for its November 19 rally — billed by some within the State unit as a `show of strength' - the party's Central leadership appears confident that the senior leader, K. Karunakaran, would not resort to any drastic measure.

Much of this confidence stems from the fact that many of the MLAs in the `I' group would find it difficult to ally with the CPI(M) should Mr. Karunakaran decide to split the party. In fact, the Tourism Minister, K. V. Thomas, is understood to have told the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today that no more than a dozen of the 21 Congress MLAs in the Karunakaran camp would break away from the party to join the CPI(M) should matters come to such a head.

Prof. Thomas met Ms. Gandhi here to brief her about the latest political developments in the State. He is also learnt to have told her that the Nationalist Congress Party president, Sharad Pawar, was trying to fish in the troubled waters of Kerala.

As for the November 19 rally, his report to the Congress leadership is similar to the prevailing view here that not too much should be made of it.

In any case, enough meetings have been planned by the party across the State on November 19 - the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi - to nullify whatever impact Mr. Karunakaran's meeting may have.

While the other factions in the Congress continue to insist on disciplinary action against Mr. Karunakaran and his men, the dominant view apparently favours a token measure to cap indiscipline without precipitating a vertical split in the party.

For her part, Ms. Gandhi refused to comment on the Kerala developments during a brief interaction with the media at the `iftar' hosted by her. As for the AICC in-charge of Kerala, Ahmed Patel, he maintained that the Kerala crisis would be addressed after the Assembly elections on December 1.

Earlier, Prof. Thomas told presspersons that Mr. Karunakaran did not have the numbers to form an alternative Government despite his claims of having 71 MLAs.

"The 71 MLAs include the 40 with the Left Democratic Front. And, the past few days have shown that all the Congressmen in his camp will not part ways with the party on his command.''

In fact, this is a fact that had brought some consolation to the high command, which has had a tough time for a greater part of this year dealing with the perennial problem of in-fighting within its Kerala unit.

As if Kerala has not given the Congress enough to worry about, there are disturbing signals coming from Thiruvalla Assembly segment where a by-poll is slated on December 1.

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