Karunakaran set to rejoin Congress

The decks have been cleared for the re-entry of veteran Kerala leader K Karunakaran into the Congress after he meet party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minster Manmohan Singh today.

"Karunakaran will be back in the Congress,'' said Mohsina Kidwai, Congress general secretary, who accompanied him for a 25-minute-long meting with Sonia Gandhi at the latter's residence this evening.

The Congress is likely to make a formal announcement tomorrow. Karunakaran had quit the Congress complaining of being ignored by Gandhi. He had floated an outfit, Democratic Indira Congress, which later merged with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Kerala.

Sources said Karunakaran had been negotiating with the Congress for nearly two months for his re-entry. Although the party leaders in Kerala "" Ramesh Chennitala, PCC chief and Ommen Chandy, leader of opposition in Assembly "" were opposed to Karunakaran's return, Kidwai, the party's Kerala in-charge, had been holding talks with him.