The Hindu : Karunakaran defends Padmaja's candidature

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 17, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Karunakaran defends Padmaja's candidature

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 16. The senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, today made a strong pitch for his daughter, Padmaja Venugopal's candidature from the Mukundapuram seat in the May 10 Lok Sabha elections by stating that she had all the political qualifications to contest.

He said Mrs. Venugopal represented youth and had handled his election campaigns when he contested from Thiruvananthapuram and Mukundapuram constituencies. He said he had only asked for the right to nominate his candidate from the Mukundapuram seat in the context of the party high command deciding to give tickets to sitting MPs. As for the Rajya Sabha seat, he said that he had not asked for it.

"What is new in the campaign that I am promoting my children in politics? This has been going on for quite some time. They (his detractors) have nothing else to say against me. In the last Lok Sabha elections, two persons (from his family) contested. This time, there would be only one. Both my children have been with the Congress by their choice," Mr. Karunakaran said at a press conference at his Jawahar Nagar residence.

"Why nobody is talking about the son of another politician who is contesting," he asked in obvious reference to the Revenue Minister, K.M. Mani's son, Jose K. Mani's contest from Muvattupuzha.

"Nobody had raised any charges about more than one person contesting in the elections in the last Lok Sabha elections. They ran a campaign against a youthful contestant in Thiruvananthapuram, alleging that he was a scapegoat for my victory in Mukundapuram. But the candidate won the seat. Similarly, in the previous Assembly elections, I had nominated my supporter from Vadakekkara. He did not have any qualification other than being an ordinary party worker. And he did win the seat," he observed.

Asked whether it was correct for three members of a family to contest in elections, Mr. Karunakaran said the question should be directed at politicians in North India also. The most significant aspect of the press conference was that Mr. Karunakaran was willing to speak openly about the prospects of his daughter in politics, something that he had shied from doing in the past. There were times, when he showed impatience at repeated questions on certain issues, but he maintained his cool while replying to questions on tickets being given to three in his family, including himself.

In reply to a question on whose responsibility it was to ensure the victory of Congress and UDF candidates, Mr. Karunakaran said that all leaders would have to take up the responsibility of seeing the party through.

But the primary responsibility is that of the KPCC president and the Chief Minister. He indicated that he had informed the Congress president that he would not shy away from taking the responsibility of ensuring the victory of Congress candidates.

When asked whether he was satisfied that his views had been taken into account, Mr. Karunakaran said that he had been stating for quite some time that steps should be taken to correct the party's positions on several issues. As far he was concerned, he had not been consulted till this day about the selection of candidates. Neither had he asked for a Rajya Sabha seat.

To a question, he said he did not consider Mr. Antony an adversary. "I made attempts to correct him. What can I do if some one turns against me for doing so?" he asked.

Asked whether he stood by his hard views against Mr. Antony's remarks on minority-majority equations, Mr. Karunakaran said he continued to hold the view that the basic task of the Congress was to uphold and protect minority rights. Besides, he did not hold the view that the Chief Minister's statement would have any permanent effect. "When two engines running on different tracks were to come together on one track, it would have greater pulling power," he remarked.

On the controversy over the IUML candidate, P.V. Abdul Wahab's nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Karunakaran said there were rules and regulations guiding such issues and the Election Commission would not have accepted the nomination papers if there were any holes in it.

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