Irked by Antony `bias', Karunakaran son sends veiled threat to Sonia

Irked by Antony `bias', Karunakaran son sends veiled threat to Sonia
NEERJA CHOWDHURY

NEW DELHI, JULY 8: Scarcely has Sonia Gandhi dealt with Ahmed Patel's sudden resignation from the post of party treasurer that she finds another crisis looming ahead. If it was the Solanki family earlier, this time it is the Karunakaran clan in Kerala.

Muralidharan, son of Karunakaran who is also a Rajya Sabha MP and vice-president of the KPCC, has written her a strongly-worded letter on behalf of 15 members of the PCC executive and DCC presidents, expressing unhappiness over the expansion of the PCC executive to favour the Antony group. The letter says they wouldn't be responsible for the actions of the younger elements if the AICC failed to take remedial action.

The high command, say sources, is inclined to take strong action against Muralidharan. As in the case of Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi is being advised to nip this act of "indiscipline" in the bud, failing which her hold over party affairs would weaken.

But it's a Hobson's choice for her. "If the AICC takes action against Muralidharan, 50 per cent of the PCC members will resign and it will be worse than the situation in Gujarat," warns a senior party leader from Kerala.

Assembly elections are due in Kerala next year and it is one state where the Congress is confident of coming back to power because of the incumbency factor. The other states where polls are scheduled to be held in 2001 are Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and the prospects of the party in these states are not very bright.

The problems dogging the Kerala unit of the party stem from the perpetual conflict between Karunakaran, now 84, and A K Antony, who is the leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Assembly. So far, the central leadership has been unable to make them sink their differences. The truce between the two which lasted for two years has now broken down.

An impression is now gaining ground in the Karunakaran faction that the high command is favouring Antony. While Karunakaran is unpopular in the state, he has a following inside the party and has been more effective in fighting the Left. Antony has a clean image but has not been effective inside the party.

The rash of "indiscipline" in the party is being attributed to the weakening position of the Congress president. For the moment there is no one coordinating these dissenting voices nationally. An attempt had been made by Jitendra Prasada and Rajesh Pilot but after Pilot's death this has flagged.

Muralidharan has strongly objected to the appointment of a dozen people to the PCC executive (belonging to the Antony group) on the eve of party elections. The letter says: "A serious situation has arisen in the party due to the untimely and inappropriate nomination of a dozen people to the PCC executive...The present executive was constituted by the AICC. The then general secretary in charge of Kerala had discussions with all leaders and sections of the party and prepared a list reflecting the relative strength of the different groups. If there is any anomaly or omission in the committee, organisational election is the right opportunity for correcting things taking into account the viewpoint of the workers."

The letter urges Sonia to put in abeyance the recent nominations, saying that it would otherwise demoralise the workers on the eve of the panchayat and assembly elections in the state. the letter reads: "We have strong apprehensions that such shortsighted, ill-timed actions will give rise to a spurt in group activities in the party, which we would not like to happen on the eve of the crucial local body elections."

Muralidharan has also made a case for reconstitution of the Youth Congress in the State and replacing the present chief of the youth wing on the ground that he is over-age and has been in the saddle for eight years, making the most active unit of the party's youth wing "dormant, ineffective and faction-ridden".

The present president of the Youth Congress was a follower of Karunakaran and had crossed over to the Antony group. "Nobody can be held responsible if the Youth Congress workers take up their own course of action if reconstitution is further delayed," the letter says.