THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran’s son
K Muraleedhran has said none of the party leaders from the state conspired to oust his father over the
ISRO espionage case. “My father has never told me that anyone conspired to remove him from the chief minister’s post over the issue,” he said here on Sunday.
When asked about his sister Padmaja Venugopal’s statement that five ‘active politicians’ had hatched a plot to wrest power from Karunakaran, Muraleedharan said: “I don’t know about it. You will have to ask about it to Padmaja.’’
Groupism and infighting existed in the party, and Karunakaran was targeted, Muraleedharan said, but added that it was not the discord in the party that led to Karunakaran’s removal.
“The UDF constituents were the ones who wanted him to be removed from the post of the chief minister,” he said.
Though he denied that Congress leaders from the state played a role in dislodging Karunakaran, he added that his father had told him that the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had turned against him and wanted him to resign from the chief minister post. “He had told me that Rao betrayed him and he was the one who demanded his resignation,” he said.
The UDF constituents asked Rao to shunt Karunakaran to New Delhi. Rao was miffed with Karunakaran after he protested against the demolition of Babri Masjid and came out against him. Karunakaran had opined that the masjid’s demolition had led to the drifting away of minorities from the Congress, Muraleedharan said.
All the accused in the case except Karunakaran have received justice, he said, adding that his father was targeted and baseless allegations were levelled against him.
“I am not ready to continue with any kind of debate. For me the issue has been closed,” he said when questions were asked whether ‘A’ group leaders led by Oommen Chandy lobbied for Karunakaran’s ouster.
K Muraleedhran
