Congress chief to decide on re-entry of Karunakaran’s son

THRISSUR - President of the Kerala unit of the Congress Ramesh Chennithala Wednesday said the decision on the re-entry of late leader K. Karunakarans son K. Muraleedharan into the party will be taken by the party chief.

Speaking to reporters after attending a ritual to pay homage to Karunakaran who died Dec 23, he said that chances of Muraleedharan’s return to the Congress have improved.

The manner in which Muraleedharan conducted himself during the recent local body elections has been taken note of by everyone. He has done a good job. Gone are the days when there was stiff opposition to his re-entry. The final decision will now be taken by the party high command shortly, said Chennithala.

Karunakaran, a four-time Kerala chief minister, was unhappy in his last days that his son, who once was the state president of the party, was given a raw deal.

The veteran leader even went to Delhi a few times with the aim of persuading the Congress brass to allow his son’s re-entry into the party.

Muraleedharan got crucial support when V.M. Sudheeran, senior Congress leader and a close aide of Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Wednesday said that it was time that there should be no more delay in his return to the party.

I do not see any resistance from any quarter in the state unit of our party to the return of Muraleedharan, he said.

It was in May 2005 that Karunakaran and Muraleedharan dumped the Congress and formed a new party.

A year later, Karunakaran merged his party with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a Left ally. The Left then broke its ties with the NCP.

A humiliated Karunakaran returned to the Congress. But his son refused to follow him at that time. Later, when Muraleedharan decided to return to the Congress, the state leadership said that he was not welcome.