Karunakaran to announce new party in Kerala

Going ahead with the plans to float a new outfit, a meeting of the 'I' faction leaders and MLAs today decided to announce a "real Congress party"in Kerala at the workers' convention in Thrissur on May 1.

The meeting, held at the residence of senior leader K Karunakaran, said the concrete action plan on alliances by the new political formation would be decided within six months.

The political and economic resolutions and the strategies to be adopted for the coming panchayat polls in the state would be decided at the Thrissur conference, former KPCC Chief and Karunakaran's son, Muraleedharan, who was expelled from the party recently, told reporters after the meeting.

The political line of the new formation will be adopted considering the sentiments of party workers at the Thrissur convention.

Speaking about disqualification of MLAs in the event of their joining the new outfit, Muraleedharan said they had authorised Karunakaran to take an appropriate decision on the matter.

Karunakaran would take a decision on the matter after obtaining legal opinion and make an announcement before May 1, he said.

A four-member panel, comprising M P Gangadharan, P Sankaran, D Sugathan, MLAs and former MP V S Sivakumar had been formed to draft the political resolution of the new movement.

`I' group MLAs M P Gangadharan, M A Chandrasekharan, D Sugathan, Maleth Saraladevi, P Sankaran, Sobhana George, N D Appachan and T U Radhakrishnan, took part in the meeting.

T V Chandramohan, who was busy with arrangements for the May 1 meeting and E M Augusthy had expressed their inability to attend the meeting, group sources said.