I had no role in denial of ticket: Antony

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 7. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. A.K. Antony, has said that he had no role in denying ticket to the senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran's daughter, Ms. Padmaja, whose name was not in the candidates list short-listed by the State election committee.

He, however, said Mr. Karunakaran's decision to resign as permanent invitee of the Congress Working Committee was unfortunate. He termed Mr. Karunakaran's action as a ``temporary reaction''.

Talking to presspersons at the airport on his return from Delhi here today, Mr. Antony observed that Ms. Padmaja's name was not proposed by any one at any stage of the candidate selection process. ``It is true that I did not propose Ms. Padmaja's name,'' Mr. Antony said.

But leaders of several factions were members of the State election committee, screening panel and central election committee. Of the 360 names that were short-listed, Ms. Padmaja's name did not figure at all. ``I bear no personal grudge against Ms. Padmaja nor do I have any differences of opinion with her. But it is highly improper to blame me just because no one was prepared to propose her name,'' Mr. Antony said.

He said that as Leader of the Opposition, he had no other

alternative but to listen to such grievances from party men. The party leadership had to contend with a long list of prospective contestants because the UDF had done much above expectations in

the recent local bodies' elections and was tipped to win the Assembly polls.

It was but natural to deny tickets to several eligible candidates. In a list of 360 prospective candidates, it was natural for some to fall by the wayside, because candidates are not selected by a draw-of-lots. He claimed that all factions in the party had got almost the same number of seats as last time. There has been no discrimination against any faction. Neither was there any pre-meditated attempt to sideline or hurt any one, he said.

Mr. Antony reiterated his earlier stand that he was not for a confrontation with Mr. Karunakaran. ``I have not taken any conscious decision which might be an affront to him. He is the seniormost leader of the Congress family, who had relentlessly fought against the Marxists in Kerala and contributed a lot to building up the party. These contributions are valuable. Even though there were several differences of opinion between us in the past, I have been consciously making attempt to find areas of united functioning,'' he said.

When asked about Mr. Karunakaran's harsh references about him, Mr. Antony asserted that he was not ready for a public debate as it was not his style of functioning. He would rather seek out areas of cooperation, by making whatever compromises possible. The party workers are reluctant to live through a repetition of the party's defeat in the 1996 Assembly elections and are looking forward to unseating the LDF rule.

To a question on Mr. Karunakaran's references to his Chief Ministership, Mr. Antony said that the UDF was not projecting any one as Chief Minister. As far as he was concerned, his mission was to ensure that the Congress was returned to power. He said that he would make all attempts to overcome hurdles while trying to achieve this goal.

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