Opinion December 24, 1981, Forty Years Ago: Congress (S) Splits

The split in the Congress (S) in Kerala was complete when a faction in the party led by the state president A K Antony became a partner of the Congress (I)-led United Democratic Front, in total defiance of the Congress (S) working committee directives and warnings from party president Sharad Pawar. The KPCC-S executive and the Congress (S) legislature party at a joint meeting earlier decided to join the United Front in line with aspirations of Congressmen. V M Sudheeran, general secretary of the party, told newsmen that the unity of democratic parties was more important than the formation of the ministry. Congress (I) leader K Karunakaran said that the decision to form a government will be taken on Christmas day.

Police Chief Removed

The Delhi Police Commissioner P S Bhinder was removed from office on December 23. He was immediately succeeded by Bajrang Lal (55), an IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre and till now joint director in the Central Bureau of Investigation. According to the orders relieving Bhinder, he has been reverted to the Haryana cadre. Bhinder had taken over as police chief in December 1980. He refused to say if the assassination of Santokh Singh had anything to do with his removal. Bhinder also said that he was proceeding on a long leave.

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Talk And Agitate

The Assam agitators decided to participate in tripartite talks with the government and the Opposition and simultaneously announced a comprehensive programme for agitation beginning December 27. The composition of the team for the talks is yet to be finalised. The venue of the talks has not yet been announced but the AAGSP said that it will not insist on a particular venue.