Deve Gowda coming for patch-up bid

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 7. The Janata Dal (Secular) president, Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda, is expected to arrive in Kozhikode on Saturday to mediate between the warring factions in the State unit of the party. The party Political Affairs Committee member, Mr. Madhu Dandavate, is also accompanying Mr. Gowda.

Mr. Gowda would attend a meeting of the State JD office-bearers on Saturday and the joint meeting of State executive committee members and district presidents on Sunday as part of his long- awaited bid to bring about a rapprochement between the factions led by the State Janata Dal president, Mr. M. P. Veerendra Kumar, and the former Forest Minister, Mr. P. R. Kurup.

The Kurup faction is quite sore at the manner in which disciplinary action had been taken against six of its men including the veteran himself and his son and Janata Dal national council member, Mr. K. P. Mohanan. The action came in the wake of an inquiry into the violence at the Yuva Janata Dal conference at Kozhikode on June 5 last.

The disciplinary action was taken by Mr. Veerendra Kumar as authorised by the party State committee which met at Palakkad to consider the inquiry report. However, the Kurup faction has termed the disciplinary action against Mr. Kurup and his son invalid as both belong to higher committees of the party and, as such, could be acted against only by the national leadership.

According to them, the State committee meeting held at Palakkad did not authorise the State JD chief to initiate action against the Kurup faction leaders. All that the meeting did was to express concern about indiscipline and to stress the need for total discipline in the party, they point out.

Mr. Kurup has been in constant touch with Mr. Gowda and had been told to observe restraint. Any settlement of the dispute in the party would be conditional upon the two sides moving away from their rigid positions. The Kurup faction, for instance, may have to admit that the violence at the Yuva Janata Dal conference was unfortunate and uncalled for, and the official leadership would have to respond to any such admission with the revocation of the disciplinary action. Whether the two sides would be willing to go that far would depend heavily on Mr. Gowda's persuasive skills and the rival factions' calculations about the benefits of a compromise.

Mr. Gowda would reach Thiruvananthapuram on January 10 morning on way to Kanyakumari to attend a rally to be held there to mark the conclusion of the 10-day-long campaign march being organised by the Tamil Nadu Janata Dal unit, the party's State general secretary, Mr. K. Harindranath, said.

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