Southern States - Kerala

Karunakaran has a hidden agenda, says Chennithala

By Our Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM APRIL 7. The AICC secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, MP, has accused the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, of resorting to ``blackmailing tactics to achieve his hidden agenda''.

Joining issue on the ongoing controversy over the reported comment made by Mr Karunakaran (that the issues raised by Sharad Pawar during his split with the party were still relevant) at the State executive committee meeting of the party last week, Mr. Chennithala called upon his one-time mentor to put an end to the covert and overt war he (Karunakaran) was waging with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

According to him, the senior party leader had resorted to such tactics earlier also, but the party had taken a lenient view about it. During the seat-sharing exercise for the last Assembly elections and later during the organisational reshuffle, he had used this tactics, Mr Chennithala alleged.

``Such actions, especially at a time when the Congress was on a come back trail, was most unfortunate and condemnable,'' he said. The party may not be able to tolerate it anymore. However, Mr. Chennithala did not come out in the open when asked about the nature of the so-called `hidden agenda'.

Mr. Chennithala said the issues raised by Mr. Pawar while raising a challenge to the leadership of Ms. Gandhi were a closed chapter. The Congress Working Committee (of which Mr. Karunakaran was a member) and the various State party units had rejected it. During the last few years, the people had also approved the stance taken by the Congress party on the issue, as was evident from the results of the various Assembly elections, the latest being the Delhi elections, he said.

Raking up such non issues at a time when the party had already emerged as the only alternative to save the nation from the Sangh Parivar machinations would only help to create confusion in the minds of party workers, he said.

Demanding a clarification from Mr. Karunakaran, Mr. Chennithala said though Mr. Karunakaran had denied that he had either met Mr. Pawar or talked to him, the confusion created by his stance remained and it was only natural that he made it clear whether he agreed with the stand taken by Mr. Pawar or not.

Mr. Chennithala, who is also the leader of the `Third group' in the party State unit, came down heavily on the conduct of the KPCC president, Mr. K. Muraleedharan, who according to him had the duty to enforce discipline when such issues were taken up in party forums.

``Such issues should not have been allowed to be taken up in the party forum,'' he said. Reacting to a question, Mr. Chennithala said raking up issues which were rejected by the party and the people at large, amounted to an act of indiscipline and that applying the yardstick of inner-party democracy was not justifiable.

Without naming the KPCC president, Mr. Chennithala said there was a tendency to discriminate against certain leaders while implementing the code of conduct on discipline. Alleging the KPCC leadership (read Mr. Muraleedharan) of employing double standards, he said when senior leaders like Vayalar Ravi and V. M. Sudheeran made remarks, these were dubbed as acts of indiscipline. But when Mr. Karuanakaran criticised the AICC leadership, no disciplinary action was taken, he alleged.

The Congress was engaged in an effort to bring back all those sections of society who had alienated from the party. The party was on a come back trail and this was evident in 14 States where the party had regained people's confidence under the leadership of Ms. Gandhi.

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