The Hindu : New Delhi News : Karunakaran, Murali take varying stance

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Friday, Oct 26, 2007
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New Delhi

Karunakaran, Murali take varying stance

Anita Joshua

K. Karunakaran makes overtures to the Congress.

NEW DELHI: Even as veteran politician K. Karunakaran made overtures to the Congress stating that Sonia Gandhi’s leadership was acceptable to him, his son and Kerala unit president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) K. Muraleedharan on Thursday made it clear that there was no question of an understanding with the Congress, let alone a merger.

Addressing separate press conferences here, the father and son insisted there was no contradiction in their respective positions. According to the former Chief Minister of Kerala, he was a dyed-in-the-wool Congressman who never left the Congress but was forced to “distance myself from the party’s activities.”

Stating that the Congress was the only political party in the country with a national spread, Mr. Karunakaran said efforts should be made to strengthen it. The Congress, in his view, should try to get back all those who had left the party, including NCP president Sharad Pawar. However, he was non-committal on whether the NCP would take a lead in this regard.

About Ms. Gandhi’s leadership — particularly in view of his criticism of her inexperience in the past — Mr. Karunakaran said she had provided the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) an effective leadership. Also, he sought to draw attention to the efforts made by him in the past to make Ms. Gandhi take an active interest in the Congress.

As for his differences with Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Karunakaran said: “I did not like the way I was treated by the Congress leadership at a certain juncture. But, I do not hold it against her.” Hopeful of meeting senior Congress leaders during his stay in the Capital, Mr. Karunakaran said he had revealed his mind to all those who mattered in the Congress. “It is for them to take a decision.”

Within minutes of his press conference, Mr. Muraleedharan said too much was being made of Mr. Karunakaran’s comment that efforts should be made to bring old Congressmen back into the Congress. The NCP, he said, was eager to maintain equi-distance from the two coalitions in Kerala. About the contradiction in the positions taken by him and his father, Mr. Muraleedharan insisted that there was no difference in viewpoints. “Because of the generational difference, the tone and tenor is different. Mr. Karunakaran will not leave the NCP against the wishes of the party workers,” he insisted.

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