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Nation Posted On Friday, November 20, 2009 | Agencies
Kochi, Nov 20:
Will he or will he not?. This key question currently running in loop in the mind of political Kerala relates to the fortune of K. Muralidharan, 54, former KPCC president and son of ailing senior Congress leader K.Karunakaran, 92.
In the language of space technology he is a satellite with no power supply, orbiting the parent planet for the right time to re-enter. Satellite re-entries are spectacular. Primetime television makes it even more so. So will Muralidharan burn-out, successfully re-enter or will he transform himself into a junk projectile in space, forever?
That the state Congress leadership is jittery over the prospect of one of their former 'gurus of groupism' re-entering the party fold is evident from the statements being made by top leaders and tier-2 talking heads that regularly appear on Kerala's 24/7 channels.
The feeler that Muralidharan would be back in the party was made by A.K.Antony on Friday when he asked the prodigal son-politician to show restraint. His advice to Muralidharan when he called on the AICC member and Union Minister in New Delhi was that he should not fall into the trap of provocation, according to media reports.
Karunakaran's hospitalisation and his passionate appeal to re-instate his son from the sick-bed added an emotional subtext to the drama. The surprise shot fired by Mullappally Ramachandran, now a strong Antony loyalist made it clear that the script for Muralidharan's re-entry has already been written and sealed. There is another reason why Muralidharan might gain entry into the Congress. He was expelled for anti-party actvities for six years in 2003. Technically there is nothing that prevent Muralidharan from being accepted back.
A.K.Antony's current stature within the party and his proximity to the most powerfull political address - No.10, Janpath - makes it easier for Muralidharan to bypass the hurdles being raised by *Chandy-Chennithala duo.
History is a great leveller in politics. It was at the height of groupism that Karunakaran had to forfeit Chief Minister's chair to his bete noire Antony in 1995. History played the same game with Antony in 2004 when he had to relinquish the post in 2004 after Congress was routed in Loksabha polls. Oommen Chandy took over the mantle from him.
Though the UDF hit the dust during 2006 assembly polls Chandy and Chennithala became the twin power centres within the Kerala unit of the party. With the sweet electoral prospects waving at the Congress two years from now Antony knows that the duo need to be tackled. And there is no better tool than Muralidharan with his sharp tongue and shrewd brain.
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