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State of Congress : Kerala unit heading for split |
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Veteran Kerala Congress leader K. Karunakaran has announced his decision to resign from the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament, setting the stage for splitting the Congress in the state. In a statement in Thiruvananthapuram, Karunakaran said, “I have taken a final decision. It is now a matter of time till I resign from my RS seat. Only some procedures are left.” He was elected to Rajya Sabha in April 2004.
“It is proper to resign as I am finding it difficult to continue in the party,” he said, indicating that he would float a new party at the convention called by his `I’ faction in Thrissur on May 1.
The Congress High Command had earlier expelled his son K. Muraleedharan from the party on disciplinary grounds. Karunakaran had made a trip to Delhi last week to buy peace with the High Command, but failed. He had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar too.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has made it clear that it has not sent any signal, positive or negative, to the Karunakaran faction in the Congress which is getting ready to float a new party. CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat said in Thiruvananthapuram that his party would finalise its approach towards the Karunakaran faction after examining the policies and programmes of the new party proposed to be floated by it. Reports say that Karunakaran may not get the Left’s support unless he is able to ideologically dissociate himself from the Congress.
Sheila Dikshit to continue as Chief Minister in Delhi
In the national capital, Delhi, where Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been facing the onslaught of dissidents for her "anti-people" policies relating to water and electricity, the rift between the two appears to have subsided following party president Sonia Gandhi meeting both the Chief Minister and the dissident leaders. And, it is now learnt that Sheila is safe as CM, at least for the time being. But, according to reports, she has been asked by the Congress High Command to compromise with the dissident wing in the local party set-up.
The much-awaited meeting of Sheila Dikshit with Sonia Gandhi took place after she was made to wait for several days for an audience with the Congress President. And that too was not one-to-one meeting, but the Chief Minister was made to come in the company of other party leaders from Delhi. Sonia Gandhi met both Sheila Dikshit and Pradesh Congress President Ram Babu Sharma. The script followed was very much on the lines of what senior AICC functionaries had been speaking of in private over the past few days. Dikshit has had to concede ground by agreeing to meet AICC leader Gehlot along with Sharma and then meet Sonia with the rest.
The compromise charted out includes the constitution of a coordination committee to serve as a mediator between the Government and the State party unit. After the meeting, which lasted almost an hour and a half, Gehlot said the Delhi Congress situation was an “internal affair and all misunderstandings have been sorted out. We will work together like a family.”
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