Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Karunakaran says Murali is a crowd-puller

Thiruvananthapuram: “K. Muraleedharan is a crowd-puller. He has the capability of presenting issues with clarity. In my opinion, the Nationalist Congress Party [NCP] should be admitted to the United Democratic Front,” veteran Congress leader K. Karunakaran has said.

At a press conference here on Thursday, Mr. Karunakaran spoke at length about Mr. Muraleedharan and Padmaja Venugopal, replying to questions from reporters.

“It is not correct to state that the NCP is not an important party. But there is no yardstick to assess its political strength. Public response is taken as an indicator,” he said to a question.

He said the people were fed up with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. All forces, including the NCP, that are opposed to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF rule and ardently believed in the democratic process should be brought under one wing. This was the approach of the Congress leadership, he said.

Asked whether Padmaja Venugopal would be a candidate in the coming Lok Sabha election, Mr. Karunakaran said it was for her to state her position. “As a father, I would advice her against contesting the elections. And I don’t think she is keeping away from politics either. Let us watch the situation,” he said

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