Antony can choose colleagues: Karunakaran

By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR, MAY 15. The senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran, M.P., has said that Mr. A. K. Antony will have the freedom to choose his Cabinet colleagues if he is elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

Reiterating his position that he has no objection in Mr. Antony becoming the Chief Minister, Mr. Karunakaran told reporters here today that as per the tradition in the Congress it is the Chief Minister designate who selects his colleagues.

However, the selection is normally done in consultation with the party leadership and only those decisions which have the approval of the party leadership can be implemented, Mr. Karunakaran added.

Asked whether there will be any problem in selecting the ministers considering that so many leaders have been elected, Mr. Karunakaran said selection of the CLP leader and the Cabinet members will be a smooth affair in the Congress. ``What problem, these are issues that had been decided months before, isn't it?,'' he said.

Replying to the question whether he had made any specific proposal about the names of the persons to be included in the Cabinet, he said he did not intend to disclose the discussions he had held in the party forums to the media.

According to Mr. Karunakaran, he had stated during the campaign for the local body elections itself that Mr. Antony should become the Chief Minister. ``I had made this statement at an election meeting at Balaramapuram then. But some sections had a feeling that I need not have said that at such an early occasion. So, I had disclosed the feeling of that section later. I had also disclosed to the media what had happened during the seat allocation talks in New Delhi. That is all. But my position all along was that Mr. Antony should become the Chief Minister, and there is no change in it. Anyway I have made it clear that I don't intend to become the Chief Minister,'' he explained.

Mr. Karunakaran parried the questions whether people like Mr. R. Balakrishna Pillai who have been convicted by the High Court will be inducted in the Cabinet or whether the new Cabinet will have more young faces in it. ``I cannot disclose my proposals in this regard to the media. But I can assure you that there will be no names in the list of Cabinet members which will not be liked by the people.''

But Mr. Karunakaran made it clear that it is unlikely that a person who has not been elected to the Assembly will be made a minister even though there is nothing legally against such a step.

Asked whether the new ministry will have a Deputy Chief Minister, in the background of the reports that the Muslim League has demanded such a post, Mr. Karunakaran said ``there is nothing wrong in having or not having a Deputy Chief Minister. I had the opportunity to have two Deputy Chief Ministers when I was the Chief Minister on various occasions. Neither I nor they did know what was their functions.''

Asked whether the UDF will go by the LDF norm to reduce the number of ministers to 14 from the figure of 19 of the previous UDF regime, as part of the austerity measures, Mr. Karunakaran said, ``there was no point in reducing the number of ministers and looting the State treasury. When the Cabinet with 19 Ministers in it (of the UDF) stepped down in 1996 the treasury had surplus funds in it. Now, a Cabinet with 14 Ministers is relinquishing office after imposing a debt of crores of rupees to the State.''

``Will the UDF follow the LDF practise of pursuing cases against political opponents with an attitude of vendetta?'', he was asked. To this, he ``who has any vendetta? The people have a given a clear verdict that those who looted the State must be booked and we will go by that.''

Organisational restructuring

Replying to questions, Mr. Karunakaran said steps will be taken to reorganise and restructure the Congress party in the State to consolidate the gains that the party and the UDF had been able to make in this elections. ``We have won this time mainly because of the strong anti-incumbency feeling that was prevailing in the State and not because we have been able to moblise the organisational machinery fully. But we will engage ourself in strengthening the party and necessary changes for this will follow soon.''

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