News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 24. The senior Congress Leader, K. Karunakaran, today demanded more representation for his men on the UDF High Power Committee from among the Congress nominees.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Karunakaran admitted that he had raised this issue during his meeting with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. At present, the KPCC president, K. Muraleedharan, was the only official nominee of the Congress party on the UDF panel. The others continued to be on the panel owing to their earlier positions in the party and he was on the panel on account of his being the founder-member of the UDF.

Mr. Karunakaran said that he had discussed party affairs with the Congress president and had impressed on her the need to reconstitute the district Congress committees (DCCs) without delay. It was almost eight months since the KPCC president was installed, and the functioning of the party was getting stalled due to the delay in appointing office-bearers to the DCCs and the lower hierarchy. He said that an alternative mechanism would be installed by the end of the month. The KPCC president would hold discussions with the high command on January 27 on the revamp process.

Mr. Karunakaran said that the DCC revamp could be further delayed on account of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and a few other States as the AICC was preoccupied with campaigning. When asked whether he felt that the KPCC president was being tethered to his post, Mr.Karunakaran said he did not want to create a controversy. He said Mr. Muraleedharan was making an attempt to carry along all sections in the party and felt that issues could be resolved if all were to cooperate.

"In any case, I believe that the KPCC president's attitude towards the Chief Minister is quite different from the approach the then KPCC president adopted when I was the Chief Minister," Mr. Karunakaran remarked wryly. He had always criticised the Government when he felt that the affairs were not being managed properly, he said in reply to a question.

He said he had spoken up against the Government on three issues - the leak of Cabinet papers, the impasse in the Assembly and the Government action in the poultry case. Nothing is heard of the Cabinet leak, while in the poultry case, the accused person was entrusted with the inquiry, which is quite unheard of.

Mr. Karunakaran said that he was reacting strongly to issues only because he wanted the UDF Government to function in a proper manner and there was no basis for the charge that he was doing the job of an Opposition leader.

In reply to a question, Mr. Karunakaran admitted that he had sat through the UDF meeting which decided on the harsh financial measures to be adopted. "I had expressed my views on this, but this does not mean that I fully supported the decisions," he said and remarked that he was struck by the speed with which the decision was ratified by the Cabinet the very next day as if there was an emergency.

"The Cabinet has proved that it can take a decision if it wants. But the unilateral decision on curtailing privileges of Government employees cannot be justified. I don't want to take positions which would land the Government in trouble. It is true that some harsh decisions would have to be taken, but it would not be in the larger interest of the UDF to close the doors on possible negotiations by taking tough positions as Mr. Antony has done," Mr. Karunakaran said. He felt that the Government could not function smoothly without the cooperation of the Civil Services.

In reply to another question, Mr. Karunakaran said he did not subscribe to the view that the number of Ministers should be reduced by excluding some of the UDF partners. He said that the UDF functioned without looking at the size of the party and the convention was to give representation to all constituents.

The senior leader parried a few difficult questions especially relating to his relations with the Chief Minister. He said that he did not expect the magnanimity of any leader while performing his task as an ordinary Congress worker, as one who was experienced and had held various positions.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States