The Hindu : Kerala News : `End campaign against Antony'

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Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

`End campaign against Antony'

Staff Reporter

Any move against him will be viewed as breach of party discipline: Basheer

KOLLAM: The Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran said here on Thursday that there was a concerted effort from a section within the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) to tarnish the image of the former Chief Minister A.K. Antony. Mr. Sudheeran was talking to presspersons when he arrived at the Kollam Press Club to release the novel Pranayam Sookshikunnavar written by K.S. Bhaskaran. He said that Mr. Antony was a great leader and the trend in the party to unleash a campaign against him should be nipped in the bud. If the trend continued, it would only harm the party, he warned.

Mr. Sudheeran called upon the senior Congress leader K. Karunakaran to work towards avoiding a split in the party. Recalling Mr. Karunakaran's words that "there is no difference of opinion with the All-India Congress Committee president, Sonia Gandhi,'' he urged Mr. Karunakaran to work with Ms. Gandhi in the interests of avoiding a split. He also called upon the party high command to save the party unit in the State from a split.

He said the failure on the part of the former KPCC president K. Muraleedharan to see and understand things in the proper perspective had contributed much towards the present plight of the party. "Perhaps, Muraleedharan was overzealous in several ways,'' he said.

Mr. Sudheeran said groupism had created all the problems in the party. Such groupism was never based on any ideology or programme. It was, in fact, a wasteful exercise that harmed the party. The immediate requirement was to avoid a split. This had to be achieved by all means since the importance of the Congress was growing at the national level. Earlier, while releasing the novel, he said many bad trends were being witnessed in the social, political and cultural arenas of the State. Even the political language being used in the State was cheap. It exposed how culturally polluted the State was. Earlier, if politicians were all-round leaders, today such leaders were leading the people to embrace a barbaric culture, he said.

Basheer defends Antony

Staff Reporter writes from Thiruvananthapuram: The KPCC general secretary Thalekkunnil Basheer too has come out in defence of Mr. Antony.

There have been organised attempts, of late, at tarnishing the image of Mr. Antony. Forces were also at work to sideline him from Kerala politics. However, any move against him will be viewed as breach of party discipline since Mr. Antony was a member of the Congress Working Committee, Mr. Basheer said at a press conference here on Thursday.

Mr. Antony is a boon to the Indian polity. There are few leaders who can match his integrity and commitment to the causes held dear by the party. He is also a custodian of the values in politics that unfortunately are fast getting eroded. Any Congressman raising his voice against such a leader should be expelled from the party, Mr. Basheer said, referring to the remarks made recently by Rajmohan Unnithan, also a former KPCC general secretary.

Mr. Antony had twice relinquished the office of the Chief Minister of Kerala and also the post of Minister in the Union Cabinet on account of ideological issues. He remains an exception among leaders who vie for power and authority.

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