The Hindu : Murali puts forth three conditions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 07, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Murali puts forth three conditions

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 6. The outgoing president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), K. Muraleedharan, met the party president, Sonia Gandhi, here this morning and returned confident about an "early and amicable'' settlement of the prolonged crisis within the State unit. He expressed the hope that no Congress worker would defy the decision of the high command. He was equally optimistic about the party improving its tally in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and conceded that the in-fighting had harmed the party.

During his meeting with Ms. Gandhi, the KPCC president put forth the three demands of the Karunakaran camp: Appointment of P.P. Thankachan as acting KPCC president following Mr. Muraleedharan's induction into the State Cabinet, eight seats for the faction in the Lok Sabha elections and revocation of the suspension of Kodoth Govindan Nair, who had been fielded by the `I' group against the official candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections from the State last year.

The KPCC president apparently underscored the fact that Mr. Nair had always been a disciplined Congressman, and had contested the Rajya Sabha elections on Mr. Karunakaran's instructions.

While the central leadership was expected to announce the appointment of Mr. Thankachan as KPCC chief by the weekend, the revocation of Mr. Nair's suspension was likely to take a bit longer, Mr. Muraleedharan told presspersons after his meeting with Ms. Gandhi.

About the `I' group's demand for eight seats in the Lok Sabha elections, he said, "we have only asked for our due share.''

Ms. Gandhi apparently told Mr. Muraleedharan that a final announcement would be made after she consulted the Pranab Mukherjee-led three-member sub-committee addressing the Kerala crisis. She told him to carry home the message that all Congress leaders should bury their differences and put up a united fight. About Mr. Thankachan's appointment as acting KPCC president, Mr. Muraleedharan did not anticipate any problems as no one in the faction-ridden unit was "particularly'' opposed to him despite him being identified as a Karunakaran loyalist. Asked about the possibility of his sister, Padmaja Venugopal, being fielded from Mr. Karunakaran's constituency in the elections, he said no individual's name was mentioned.

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