THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, January 23: Congress leader K Karunakaran has intervened to broker peace in the United Democratic Front following the boycott of seat-sharing talks by the two junior partners, Kerala Congress (Jacob) and CMP. He has promised to initiate a dialogue in the UDF, soon after he comes back from Delhi on January 25, to settle their grievances.Sources said that Karunakaran called both KC(Jacob) leader T M Jacob and CMP general secretary M V Raghavan to convey his mind. Jacob met him at his house. Karunakaran sought their "help in restoring smooth ties in the coalition which he had led for nearly 28 years". Karunakaran was understood to have told them that the crisis, stemming from Jacob's alleged comments against Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty and the latter's retort, could have been handled more discreetly.
Sources said both parties were upset not merely over the rejection of their requests for Lok Sabha seats but over what they called the Congress attitude of "taking them for
granted". Jacob had indeed put this in writing and submitted it to UDF convener K Sankaranarayanan.
Meanwhile, Jacob told ENS that whatever was printed in the weekly was not what he had said and he would be the last person to wound Kunhalikutty. At least he would not venture to say all that was attributed to him on the eve of the elections as long as he was a partner in the UDF. However, matters have gone a bit too far to expect any immediate reparation between the League and KC (Jacob) in the near future.
Karunakaran was at best aiming at a fire-fighting operation to salvage seats allotted to the "I" faction. Both he and his son are facing a crucial battle and so were his nominees in Kollam, Kozhikode and Vatakara. Even as Congressmen are led to believe that unity was being restored in the party, the row over Mukundapuram seat is on account of Karunakaran's insistence that the traditional "I" seat cannot be given to PC Chacko, who was no more his ally.
It is in a context of vengeance -- to pay
back his as well as his son K Muraleedharan's defeat in the last elections -- that Karunakaran is building bridges with the minor partners in the UDF. On the other hand, the Antony supporters, who retain Lok Sabha seats won last time, are complacent.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
