Kerala   

No move to woo Karunakaran: Moily

Staff Reporter

But Antony, Chennithala, Ravi send feelers to the senior leader

KOCHI: Veerappa Moily, All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Kerala affairs, has denied any attempts to bring the former Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, back to the party fold.

Talking to presspersons here on Sunday, Mr. Moily, a long-time friend of Mr. Karunakaran, said that though they were good friends, they were now in different parties. It was speculated that Mr. Moily was appointed as the AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala affairs with a view to wooing back Mr. Karunakaran. Considering the thick friendship that existed between the two, the Congress had earlier deputed Mr. Moily a few times to pacify Mr. Karunakaran when he threatened to split the party.

"Mr. Karunakaran has not sent any feelers to the Congress and meeting him is not on my agenda. It is up to him to think whether it is good for him to continue in the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran)," Mr. Moily said. At the same time, Mr. Moily said that anything could happen before the elections. He said the pro-poor policies and programmes implemented by the United Democratic Front (UDF) Government in the State would ensure that the Congress retained power in the coming Assembly elections, he said.

`No anti-incumbency'

Mr. Moily said that there was no anti-incumbency factor working against the UDF Government now. There was absolutely no reason for the party to be diffident about its performance in the Assembly polls. Moreover, the investment climate in the State had improved and Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy had recently made a statement to this effect, he said. The party had to face some "ripples" when it fought the recent panchayat elections and Parliament byelection. However, no such factors existed now and the organisational machinery had become fully functional under the leadership. With these factors working in favour of the Congress, the party would retain power, he said.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala and party leader Ajay Tharayil were also present.

UNI writes from Kochi: Putting out feelers to Mr. Karunakaran and his supporters to come back to the Congress fold, Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony asked them to make a self-retrospection and realise that it would be ``better late than never.''

Sending a covert invitation, senior leader Vayalar Ravi, MP, said the splinter groups could never feel at home outside while Mr. Chennithala said all those who split away should come back to the `one Congress family.'

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