New Delhi: Former Kerala chief minister K Karunakaran is trying desperately to merge his fumbling Democratic Indira Congress (DIC-K) with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), but the latter seems to be in no tearing hurry to welcome him, political sources say.
Although a merger is not being ruled out, the NCP appears to be apprehensive in view of the objections raised by NCP's Kerala leaders who would prefer to keep Karunakaran at a safe distance, party sources told IANS.
DIC-K President K Muraleedharan, who is Karunakaran's son, met Pawar in Delhi on Friday evening. More meetings are expected to take place over the weekend.
Pawar had reportedly spoken to both Karunakaran and Murleedharan about the merger. Sources close to Pawar added that he would hold further discussions with the father and the son when he visits Kerala later this month.
The DIC-K, which used to have considerable influence in northern Kerala especially Kozhikode, Wayanadu and Malappuram districts, is optimistic about improving its electoral prospects if it gets the support of a party like NCP, said an NCP leader.
If it gets merged with NCP, the DIC-K would be a part of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), with which it desperately wanted to join hands with in the run up to Assembly elections this year.
The NCP is a constituent of the LDF, which the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leads.
NCP leaders are not so amused by Karunakaran's overtures.
"When we wanted their support and cooperation before the polls, the DIC-K refused to join hands with us. Now we have to think about it seriously," an NCP leader from Kerala said. NCP has one legislator in the 140-seat assembly.
The state leaders of NCP argue that the DIC-K leaders' overtures are aimed at saving themselves from a crisis the party faces - the DIC-K is in disintegration after the debacle in the state polls.
NCP's Kerala leaders also point to Karunakaran's reputation as a wrecker.
"If Pawar admits Karunakaran, Karunakaran will end up asking within months for the agriculture portfolio that Pawar now holds," one of the leaders said.
NCP sources said the party leadership did not want to make any commitment to Murleedharan.
The DIC-K, which made up with the Congress after the CPI-M refused an alliance for the April-May Assembly polls, performed poorly losing all but one of the 18 seats it contested. The only candidate who won was Thomas Chandy, an NRI.
But NCP sources in Delhi indicated that Pawar was interested in expanding his party base in Kerala, for which he thinks the merger would be good.
"But he considers the state unit views seriously and wants the state leaders to be fully convinced about the move," said the source.
The NCP-DIC-K merger would amount to the coming together of two Congress split-away groups, both led by former veteran party leaders.
Pawar broke away from the Congress in 1998 objecting to Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin. Karunakaran formed his party in 2005 following intense internal problems in the Kerala unit of the Congress.
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