The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Congress will revive its culture, tradition: Oommen Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Congress will revive its culture, tradition: Oommen Chandy

M. Dinesh Varma

`Exit of Karunakaran inevitable, hardly surprising; no threat to UDF poll prospects

CHENNAI: Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, on Friday asserted that the recent turn of events in Kerala politics presented an opportunity for the Congress (I) to revive its tradition and culture and the UDF to put up a united front and pursue a development agenda for the State and its people.

Mr. Chandy, who was in Chennai, was of the view that those who were now out of the UDF could not create even a fraction of the trouble they had caused from within.

He described the recent breaking away from the party of veteran Congress leader, K. Karunakaran to launch the National Congress (Indira), and the exit of UDF constituents, Kerala Congress (Jacob), and Kerala Congress (Balakrishna Pillai) as "inevitable and hardly surprising".

According to Mr. Chandy, those who were now out of the UDF had turned a liability for the UDF through their covert and overt designs, which climaxed with the Lok Sabha debacle last year.

The Chief Minister said he might have differed from his predecessor, A. K. Antony, in not tolerating actions that harmed the UDF and cracking the whip when compromise failed. The decision to keep out the two UDF constituents was not a casual one but a considered decision on the approval of the Congress High Command, he said.

`No numbers and leaders'

He did not believe the National Congress (Indira) had the "numbers or the leaders with them" to pose a serious threat to UDF's poll prospects in the forthcoming Assembly by-elections to Azhikode and Koothuparamba and local body elections this year and leading on to the Assembly polls next year.

Referring to the one-month lag between the suspension served on K. Muraleedharan and his expulsion, Mr. Chandy said even at that time an acceptance of the High Command as the supreme authority in the party would have saved the situation.

"It had been virtually impossible for the party to conduct organisational elections, or why even implement a policy programme. Now, the party has to regain it lost tradition and public image."

Mr. Chandy said he was committed to continue the development agenda initiated by Mr. Antony through a `Transparent Kerala' campaign and focusing on bringing the masses closer to the Government and providing timely and quality services to the people.

"No project that is beneficial to the State will be shelved in the face of a political agitation or controversy", Mr. Chandy said.

The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, T. K. A.Nair, is due to visit Thiruvananthapuram on May 23 to discuss providing additional forest land for expansion of Sabarimala, the LNG terminal and NTPC expansion proposals.

A delegation from Qatar is also due in Kerala this month to discuss various projects, ranging from gas distribution to tourism.

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