THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 12 December 2006 — Veteran Kerala leader K. Karunakaran’s bid to get into the Left Democratic Front (LDF) boomeranged yesterday when the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) got expelled from the ruling coalition.
The Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran (DIC-K) merged with the federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s NCP ast month hoping for a backdoor entry. The move has now left the party virtually in the lurch.
When the LDF state committee met at the AKG Center here, Pinarayi Vijayan, state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) that leads the LDF, asked the NCP representatives to leave the venue since its continuation was to be decided at the meeting.
Vijayan then proposed the expulsion and all other constituents supported the CPI-M decision, according to Janata Dal (Secular) leader K. Krishnan Kutty, who attended the meeting. “The decision was unanimous. We cannot accept the NCP in its present form since its composition has changed drastically after its merger with Karunakaran’s party,” the LDF convener Vaikkom Vishwan told reporters after the meeting.
He however evaded repeated questions if the decision to keep NCP was taken on ideological considerations or was it only because of the presence of some leaders in that party. “We will have no problem in cooperating with them when it comes to the issues of public concern,” he added.
The decision to keep Karunakaran out is seen as a victory for the embattled Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan over his rivals in the party led by Vijayan.
Both factions were at odds on accommodating the four-time chief minister and his son K. Muralidharan, the NCP state president, who left the Congress party one and half years back to float the DIC-K.
“They have no time to rule and Achuthanandan is an utter failure as an administrator,” a fuming Karunakaran told a news conference he jointly addressed with the SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Nateshan.
“You cannot write him off. He has influential votes in all constituencies in the state,” Nateshan said.
“No shock or surprise, we were expecting this for quite some time,” K. Muralidharan said reacting to the expulsion. “If it was because of the emergency (excesses) the CPI man was the CM then (Karunakaran was the Home Minister under him). If it was because of the (controversial corruption in) palm oil import, it was an assumption that the state’s exchequer lost some Rs. 15 million. These people are supporting ministers (at the center) who had plowed away billions of rupees,” he added.
The NCP leaders said the Communist Party of India, the junior LDF partner, blocked the NCP’s entry fearing it will lose the second largest party status. “It is sad the coalition succumbed to the unfounded fears of the party, which has no base in the state. The LDF will be answerable to the people,” NCP General Secretary T.P. Peethambharan Master said.
