Antony takes soft line on Kerala rebels

In probably the last scene of the Kerala Congress drama, Chief Minister A.K. Antony today hinted that he is not in favour of harsh action to quell dissent in the state unit.

At a meeting with party chief Sonia Gandhi today, Antony is believed to have taken a soft line on rival and senior leader Karunakaran, who had supported a rebel candidate for Rajya Sabha elections, and 22 Congress MLAs, who voted for the rebel.

The AICC leadership has been convinced that some action needs to be taken against the MLAs, if not Karunakaran. However, Antony made it clear that ‘‘politics of annihilation, is not the politics of Congress.’’