Karunakaran upset, quits CWC

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 7. The senior Congress(I) leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran, today announced his resignation as permanent invitee to the party working committee expressing disgust at the way he and his supporters were given the short shrift in distribution of ticket for the Assembly elections.

At a press conference at his Thiruvananthapuram residence, he sought to give a new turn to his tussle with the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and Opposition Leader in the Assembly, Mr. A.K. Antony, by declaring that the latter becoming the Chief Minister was not a closed matter.

Mr. Karunakaran did not conceal his resentment at the leadership's decision to deny ticket to his daughter, Ms. Padmaja, and other supporters and termed it an insult to him.

The Congress leader said he thought it futile to continue as permanent CWC invitee, more so because he felt that the leadership had lost confidence in him. His ire was mainly directed at Mr. Antony, who was `responsible' for Ms. Padmaja losing out in the race. He alleged that the denial of ticket to his supporters was planned and there were times when he even felt that Mr. Antony cut out names he proposed.

Mr. Karunakaran did not reveal his strategy, which would be finalised after discussions with his colleagues, but he indicated that his supporters would not remain silent.

``We would do whatever we can to ensure that the UDF does not lose the election. We can't think of permitting the LDF to come to power again. But the perception that Mr. Antony would become Chief Minister, if the UDF were to win, is wrong and it is for the new MLAs to elect a new leader. We don't intend to unseat the LDF just to install a Chief Minister who would perform worse than the incumbent, Mr. E.K. Nayanar. Mr. Antony is behaving in a highhanded manner because he knows that the party is my weakness and he is capitalising on it. In any case, I cannot be held responsible if my supporters were to react in a retributive manner,'' he said.

When pointed out that his daughter's name did not figure at any stage during candidate selection, Mr. Karunakaran said, ``the onus was on Mr. Antony to sponsor her name. Being the future leader of the party, it was for him to act in an impartial way. Besides, he had no qualms in promoting his close aides like Mr. M.M. Hassan.''

Mr. Karunakaran took exception to the enforcement of AICC norms for selecting his nominees, while giving the benefit of factional considerations to Mr. Antony's supporters. The party had decided to give preference to women candidate, but one of his nominees for the Aranmula seat was denied a ticket. It had promised to give a break to youth, but in Kottayam, it had nominated a ``young lady'' who was a grandmother. Four of his DCC presidents were denied tickets.

The Congress leader listed the number of seats he had been not allotted and said he had even been denied the privilege of nominating candidates in his own constituency according to AICC norms. In reply to a question, he said: ``You will not get Karunakaran do a Mamata in Kerala''.

Throughout the press conference, Mr. Karunakaran took care not to launch an attack on the high command or the Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi. At one point, he was willing to explain how the media misquoted his statements. On a few occasions, he trained his guns on party leader, Mr. Vayalar Ravi, who had opposed Ms. Padmaja's candidature but had no qualms in promoting his wife's nomination. Mr. Karunakaran denied he had tried to influence Ms. Gandhi's office to advance Ms. Padmaja's name. She had staked a claim in her own right, on the strength of the support of the people of Chalakkudy.

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