Thiruvananthapuram, December 27 : KPCC president M M Hassan’s comments the other day that he regretted having played a part in ousting late congress stalwart K Karunakaran as chief minister in 1995 over the ISRO espionage case has kicked up a row within the congress party.
Little did Hassan knew that what he intended as benign comments on the occasion of the eighth death anniversary of Karunakaran would end up raking up the old controversy over the ISRO spy case and revive a debate on whether the former congress chief minister had been the victim of a conspiracy hatched by his fellow partymen.
Escalating the row within the party, specifically within the ‘I’ faction of the party, congress spokesperson Joseph Vazhakkan on Wednesday came out strongly against Karunakaran’s son K Muraleedharan over the latter’s response to Hassan’s comments.
Shedding his silence on the controversy sparked by Hassan’s comments, Muraleedharan the other day alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched within the party against his father in the palmolein and ISRO spy cases.
Muraleedharan also alleged that his father was betrayed by even those closest to him, sparking speculation that he was alluding to congress ‘I’ faction leader Ramesh Chennithala.
This has provoked ‘I’ faction leader Joseph Vazhakkan into launching a scathing attack on Muraleedharan.
Alleging that Muraleedharan was acting sanctimoniously, Vazhakkan charged him with having hurt Karunakaran the most.
Vazhakkan also reminded Muraleedharan that it was not appropriate to take a jab at others after having initially sought to douse the controversy himself.
K Karunakaran stepped down as chief minister in 1995 over the ISRO espionage case following calls for his resignation from the congress (A) faction led by A K Antony.
However, M M Hassan the other day revealed that A K Antony had been against Karunakaran’s removal as chief minister but that he and Oommen Chandy paid no heed to Antony’s words and carried on protests demanding Karunakaran’s resignation.
