Karunakaran indicates willingness to rejoin Cong

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 30: Veteran National Congress Party (NCP) leader K Karunakaran today indicated he is willing to go back to the Congress in which he served for more than seven decades.

Talking to newspersons here, he said if an initiative came from senior Congress leaders, he would consider strengthening the Congress party.

Stating that the Congress would have to intensify its fight against extremism and communalism, Mr Karunakaran, who recently held talks with several leaders in Delhi, said he was willing to strengthen the party.

Mr Karunakaran last year joined the NCP headed by Union Minister Sharad Pawar after merging with it his Democratic Indira Congress (DIC), which he formed after effecting a split in the Congress.

Following which, the NCP was removed from the ruling Marxist-led coalition in Kerala.

Mr Karunakaran's son and NCP state unit president K Muraleedharan made it clear that there was no question of the NCP joining the Congress.

UNI