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Sweet and sour moments

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 17 . The change over at the KPCC from the K. Muraleedharan era to the P.P. Thankachan era had its own sweet and sour moments.

The arrival of the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, and the veteran Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, at the Indira Bhavan, the headquarters of the KPCC, provided the sweet moments for the party workers and leaders who were at loggerheads till the other day.

Also present to witness the change over were seniors, Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, chairperson of the newly set up Campaign Committee, C.V. Padmarajan, former KPCC president and chairman of the disciplinary committee, and M.P. Gangadharan, deputy leader in the Assembly. Prominent among others who were present included the Fisheries and Excise Minister, K.V. Thomas, and the Tourism Minister, P. Sankaran.

But the absence of the UDF convener, Oommen Chandy, a known opponent of the settlement formula, the senior MLA, Aryadan Mohammed, who is Mr. Thankachan's close friend, the AICC secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, and a horde of other senior leaders provided the sour moments.

The Indira Bhavan was overcrowded with Congressmen, mostly those belonging to the "I" group.

The leading lights from the other groups who were present at the party headquarters included the KPCC vice-president, M.I. Shanavaz, the KPCC general secretaries, M.K. Raghavan, Joseph Vazhakkan, Rosakutty Teacher and Thalelkunnil Basheer.

The "I" group's representation was made up by general secretaries, K.P. Kunhikannan, Rajmohan Unnithan and Saratchandra Prasad.

Mr. Thankachan accompanied Mr. Karunakaran to the Indira Bhavan for the change over. Mr. Muraleedharan arrived quite early apparently to clear some pending papers. In fact, the party leadership made all attempts to project an aura of unity so that the whirring TV cameras could capture it for the benefit of the grassroots workers.

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