Antony admits to problems in state Congress

Antony was answering a question on senior Congress leader, K Karunakaran’s statement that issues pertaining to the Congress in the state would be resolved if Antony took the initiative.

A faction feud in the unit had reached a new high when a group affiliated to Karunakaran and led by his son K Muraleedharan and another group conducted separate rallies in the state on August 9 last.

The issues could be sorted out if other leaders also took the initiative and sat together and discussed the matter, he said. Antony was of the opinion that internal feuds in the Congress would in no way affect the UDF’s prospects in the forthcoming local bodies election.

Antony said the UDF is working out a political strategy with the support of secular and democratic individual and groups to defeat the CPI(M)-led LDF in the local bodies elections.

"UDF will not have any direct or indirect tie-up with BJP", Antony said speaking at a meet-the press programme here.

Discussions with different groups and individuals are progressing and the strategy will be finalised at the UDF co-ordination committee to be held here on August 14, he said.

Criticising the state government for its failure on all fronts, Antony said the state is now in a debt trap from which it would not be easy to escape.

The state’s public debt had gone up to Rs 20,000 crore and government overdraft was also mounting every month, he said.

Even though there are no official restrictions in treasury transactions, he said currently it takes two weeks to pass a government cheque of more than Rs 10,000.

Stating that there would not be a major political change before the local bodies elections, he said the elections would mark a change in the state’s political set-up.