The Hindu : Front Page : Veerappa Moily to hold talks with DIC(K)

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Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006

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Veerappa Moily to hold talks with DIC(K)

Girish Menon

Veerappa Moily

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress on Tuesday deputed its Working Committee member Veerappa Moily for negotiations with the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) as the mediator.

Mr. Moily who arrived here on Monday lost no time in catching up with the latest position by meeting the IUML leaders P.K. Kunhalikutty and E.T. Mohammed Basheer. He later attended a meeting of United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders.

Addressing a press conference later, UDF convener P.P. Thankachan indicated that the UDF leadership would take a decision jointly. Mr. Moily is in consultation with a four-member Congress team that had been authorised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) State conference to work out strategies for the Assembly election.

Mr. Thankachan said the UDF proposed to wrap up the seat-sharing discussions among its partners by March 17. The DIC(K) issue will be settled by March 18. The UDF convener said the Congress fully shared the sentiments of the IUML that democratic votes should not be divided.

The IUML leaders' reading is that Mr. Moily follows a positive line. There are two main roadblocks in the negotiations. The first one relates to the difficulty of the Congress leadership to open direct discussions with K. Karunakaran or his son, K. Muraleedharan. This issue has been addressed partially with Mr. Moily's arrival. The second issue relates to the question of the DIC(K) contesting in the Congress party's `hand' symbol . With the Congress leaders setting this as the main parameter for the negotiations, the IUML mediators would find it difficult to take the talks to the next stage, source said.

Another difficulty is that the Congress leadership has not opened its mind to the kind of concessions it is willing to make to facilitate the DIC(K)'s entry into the UDF. Mr. Basheer, who has been one of the senior leaders in touch with Mr. Karunakaran, said: "Our mission is to probe the possibilities of melting the ice and bringing them to the negotiating table," he observed.

Earlier in the day, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala came down heavily on Congress leaders for announcing their candidature even before the party's election committee met. Mr. Moily said that he would work towards ensuring a victory for the UDF. Negotiations with the DIC(K) would be decided upon after discussions with the State leaders, he added.

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