Son comes between Karunakaran & Cong

Karunakaran, once a powerful acolyte of Indira Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao took the high command head on, as his archival in the state A K Antony was getting prominence in Delhi politics. His brazen attempts to promote his son and daughter Padmaja reached a peak when both were fielded as Congress candidates in 2004 Lok Sabha elections while Karunakaran himself was a member of the Rajya Sabha. All through a master tactician, Karunakaran lost the game when he left the Congress in 2005. His outfit was not accommodated by the Left Front in Kerala, and in the last Assembly elections he had to form an alliance with the Congress. The veteran now wants to end his wilderness and regain some political relevance.

But his son comes in the way. “There is no possibility for any kind of alliance with the Congress,” he said on Monday. About reports of his father expressing willingness to return to the Congress, Muraleedharan said such stories were cooked up by vested interests who had betrayed Karunakaran earlier. “This is nothing but the handiwork of people who left the Congress earlier along with Karunakaran but later betrayed him and returned to that party,” he said.

Karunakaran has gone to the extent of praising Antony for the “good works that he has done to Kerala” but the state Congress leadership is cold to the overtures. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, an erstwhile loyalist who fell out with Karunakaran resisting the attempts to foist Muralidharan, is not keen to welcome him back. “This is only a media discussion,” he said.