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Crisis in Kerala coming to an end: Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 7. Even as the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today sought to downplay the crisis in the Kerala unit as something common in any big family, there were indications that an announcement on a new party chief in the State would be made only after the induction of the outgoing Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, K. Muraleedharan, into the Antony Cabinet.

In an informal interaction with reporters at a lunch she hosted for the media at her residence here, Ms. Gandhi conceded that the party had been facing some problems in Kerala. "I think we are slowly coming to an end of the problem, hopefully. Ours is a big party. It is a huge, huge family. There will always be some problems.''

Whether the Kerala Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, ought to withdraw or apologise for his controversial anti-minority statement, Ms. Gandhi said that it was a decision for him to take.

However, she said that there had been some improvement in the situation since Mr. Antony met the Indian Union Muslim League president, Panakkad Mohammadali Shihab Thangal.

Despite Mr. Muraleedharan claiming that the All-India Congress Committee would announce his successor this weekend, party leaders said the announcement would be made only after his induction into the Kerala Cabinet. Unwilling to confirm whether the senior PCC vice-president, P. P. Thankachan, would be made the acting KPCC president, the central leadership said a final decision would be taken after consulting all groups within the faction-ridden State unit of the party.

While there is talk of an interaction between Ms. Gandhi and the disgruntled leader, K. Karunakaran, the party also appears to be gearing up for the likely possibility of the allies in the United Democratic Front (UDF) asking for more than three of the Lok Sabha seats. "Let a formal proposal come from the UDF to change the existing 17:3 proportion,'' was the refrain of the leaders who maintained that efforts would be made to stick to the prevailing seat-sharing arrangement.

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