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Cong
leaders mark Antony for top post
Samjiv Sinha
New Delhi,
May 13: Armed with an overwhelming verdict in favour of the
United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, the Congress’ central
leadership has decided to instal A K Antony as the next chief minister
in the state, despite arch-rival and veteran party leader K Karunakaran’s
‘‘claim’’ to the top post.
Party sources said here tonight that Antony would be the ‘‘natural
choice’’ to head the UDF government and that the party’s
AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala Ghulam Nabi Azad and
senior leader, Motilal Vora, would leave for Thiruvananthapuram
tomorrow to ‘‘gauge the mood’’ among the elected
MLAs of not only the Congress but also other constituents of the
UDF.
Although the Congress did not project anybody as chief ministerial
candidate, the central leadership feels Antony should be the next
CM not because as the CLP leader he led the party’s campaign
in the state but also because he enjoys a clean image and wider
acceptability.
While Azad and Vora will convey to the MLAs Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi’s choice of Antony, Karunakaran is expected ‘‘go
along’’ with the decision given the fact that his faction
hasn’t done as Antony’s.
The Congress
won 62 of the 88 seats it contested; the Antony and Karunakaran
factions contested 37 seats each while the rest were ditributed
among the Vyalar Ravi and Ramesh Chennithala factions. While the
Antony faction, according to party sources here, won 29 seats, that
of Karunakaran managed to bag only 24.
The remaining nine were shared by the Vyalar Ravi and Chhenithala
factions who have already stated their support for Antony.
With the UDF
winning 99 out of the total 140 assembly seats, the odds are stacked
against Karunakaran since it will be tough for him to disturb the
equations within the UDF, unless he carries other constituents of
the Congress-led coalition such as the Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) and the Kerala Congress.
Sources here
said the high command, as a sop to Karunakaran, could agree to his
long-standing demand of apppointing his son, Muralidharan, as the
state’s PCC chief. This would also serve to balance the two
rival factions in the state.
At the same time, however, knowing Karunakaran’s ability to
kick up a storm, the central leadership has also strategised to
have the CLP leader elected if he remains adamant and a consensus
fails.
The high command
is confident Antony will emerge the winner even in such a scenario.
However, Karunakaran
appeared to have accepted reality somewhat by telling mediapersons
who met him after the UDF’s landslide victory that Sonia Gandhi
would decide the Chief Minister in consultation with the MLAs and
other senior party leaders.
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