Karunakaran softens stand on Cong

New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) Clearly softening his stand on the Congress, NCP leader K Karunakaran today said he was willing to join hands with that party to defeat communal and extremist elements.

Talking to reporters, the former Kerala Chief Minister said the NCP was a strong force, but not strong enough to deal with such forces.

Mr Karunakaran said this view was endorsed by various leaders he met during his stay here in the past three days -- Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and dissident Congress leaders Bhajan Lal and K Natwar Singh.

Carefully avoiding any criticism of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he also would not reject outright the possibility of his returning to the Congress.

Asked whether he would join the Congress if Ms Gandhi made an appeal to him, he quoted a Malayalam phrase to suggest that he would cross the river when he came to it.

Mr Karunakaran, who parted with the Congress two years ago, said he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pursue the Vizhinjam Port project and other issues. Dr Singh was also a Congress leader, he added.

The NCP leader, who is visiting the capital for the first time since leaving the Congress to launch his party which was subsequently merged with the Sharad Pawar-led political outfit, said he would attend the UPA and UPA-Left meetings if Mr Pawar wanted him to represent the party.

He evaded questions on his reported efforts to form a Third Front, stating that even new born children were named only after 28 days. He would be meeting in the near future many more leaders, including TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu who was expected to visit Kerala soon.

Asked why was he not meeting Defence Minister A K Antony, he said the Congress leader was visiting Kerala quite frequently but never got in touch with him.

Mr Karunakaran would be meeting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee later this evening before returning to Kerala tomorrow morning.

About his meeting with Mr Mukherjee, he said they were old friends.

UNI