Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 23 (Inditop.com) Four-time Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran said Wednesday it was time the Congress’ state executive immediately called a meeting to discuss the return of his son K. Muraleedharan to the party.
“I will wait for some more time and if they don’t call a meeting, then I will demand a meeting to be called,” Karunakaran, 91, told reporters at his home here soon after renewing his membership of the party that he has been holding since 1936.
Karunakaran returned to the Congress in December 2007 without Muraleedharan, who preferred to remain the Kerala president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The father-son duo had walked out of the Congress in 2005 and formed the Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran. One year later, they found the going tough and merged the party with the NCP for their political survival.
When this gamble too failed to pay off, Karunakaran, much against the wishes of his son, admitted he was wrong in leaving the Congress and got the nod from party president Sonia Gandhi to return.
With fortunes dipping, Muraleedharan quit the NCP a few months ago and since then has been eyeing a return to the Congress, which, at its executive meeting in August, unanimously decided against this.
Things changed in his favour when last month Karunakaran suddenly took ill and from his hospital bed sent a letter to state Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala, seeking his son’s re-entry.
Chennithala then said the issue would be taken up at meeting of the executive that Karunakaran would also attend. It is this meeting that the veteran has now demanded.
Muraleedharan also travelled to Delhi and apologised in writing for his misdeeds of the past and urged he be readmitted to the Congress. He was informally told that it was best that he gets the full support of the state unit.
On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy and Chennithala called on Karunakaran. Asked about the purpose of their visit, Chennithala said they had gone to invite him for a party meeting. When specifically asked if Muraleedharan’s re-entry was discussed, Chandy retorted: “No.”
When this was pointed out, Karunakaran expressed his displeasure, saying: “I heard what he said.”
The one good thing for Muraleedharan is that he now seems to have got help from a section of the party leaders here who support Defence Minister A.K.Antony, who is doing the spadework in Delhi for Muraleedharan.
