Cong. leaders trying to observe restraint

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 2. In the face of defraying tempers, Congress leaders today struggled hard to observe restraint to prevent the controversy over the arrest of the Kozhikode District Congress Committee president, Mr. M. Veerankutty, from spilling into the streets. But such restraint could hardly conceal differences of opinion between the Congress party leadership and the Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony.

Mr. Antony, who returned from New Delhi, was non-committal about the future course of action regarding the Kozhikode incidents, venturing to state that he would have to examine the issue before taking action. He advised the KPCC president, Mr. K. Muraleedharan, to ensure that party men observed restraint.

Mr. Muraleedharan met the Chief Minister in the afternoon to register the protest unanimously expressed at the KPCC office- bearers meeting earlier in the day. Even at this high-level meeting, the Chief Minister did not give any inkling about the course of action he proposed to take, and informed the KPCC president that he would examine the issue and take suitable action after returning from his brief tour to Kochi.

Mr. Muraleedharan, however, did not hide his differences with the Chief Minister over the Kozhikode issue, even though he took care to maintain his cool at a press conference he convened. "The party is all for inducting impartiality in the functioning of the police. But this cannot be interpreted to mean a license to take on party workers. Some police officers believe that impartiality means a blank cheque to indulge in highhandedness. This is not acceptable," he said.

In reply to another question, he said that he agreed to the Chief Minister's view about equality of law, but this should not end up in being denial of justice.

Mr. Muraleedharan said that the KPCC office-bearers meeting had registered the party's strong protest against the police action in Kozhikode. He said that the KPCC executive would be convened at the earliest to discuss various policy issues, including the police and pension age.

He said that Mr. Veerankutty had been arrested at 4 a.m., but the police had shown the arrest time as 6-15 a.m. There was no urgency in taking action in the wee hours of the day, and it could have waited. The magistrate had asked for an explanation on this course of action, Mr. Muraleedharan said.

The senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran, who landed in Kochi, also did not hide his displeasure over the police action against a trusted aide. He described Mr. Antony's statement that all citizens were equal before the law as political bankruptcy.

The former KPCC president, Mr. Vayalar Ravi, said that the police action against the Kozhikode DCC president could not be justified because he was not directly involved in the incidents that occurred during the Indira Jyothi rally.

Mr. Muraleedharan said that there were lots of complaints against the Kozhikode City Police Commissioner. The KPCC president did not, however, wanted to openly criticise the Chief Minister, and in reply to several questions, he said that he was aware about his limitation as KPCC president. "The Chief Minister and I have our own problems as a president and administrator respectively, he observed.

For the time being, the issue appears to have been contained, though dissatisfaction at the Chief Minister's attitude was evident. Senior party leaders are waiting to see the kind of action Mr. Antony would ultimately take as it has larger implication related to the ties between the police and the largest party in the ruling coalition.

He cannot possibly avoid ordering a probe, but the nature of retribution would be important if only for the kind of message it would send to both the police and the party workers. To that extent the Veerankutty issue cannot be seen in isolation. It has to be viewed in the context of the general complaint Congress men have against the functioning of the police as reflected in the debates at various party forums.

At the KPCC meeting today, some of the office-bearers wanted a detailed discussion on the functioning of the police force. It was then that the meeting felt that the issue was a fit case to be debated at the KPCC executive.

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