Waiting to rule God's own country
Kerala's most famous father-son political duo is trying to make a public appeal this time, after a round of firefighting with the Congress to which once they belonged.
Last year, around this time, veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran and his son K Muraleedharan left the party to form the Democratic Indira Congress. Karunakaran's revenge was that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was strangling his faction in the Congress.
Karunakaran and his son then joined hands with the Left parties to fight local elections. All was going well until last month, when the Marxists refused to take his Democratic Indira Congress as an ally.
Ditched by the Left, Karunakaran and Muraleedharan once again carried out a political somersault by joining hands with the Congress-led UDF to fight the elections. Most Congress leaders are against the alliance, imposed by the party high command. But, unwillingly, the UDF has given 18 seats for Karunakaran's party to fight for.
Not many believe Karunakaran will win any of the seats, but this hasn't stopped the father and son from trying. "The Left ditched us. We will teach them a lesson," says Muraleedharan. Will his breakaway Congress join hands with the parent party? "We will decide after the elections. For now, our aim is to fight the Left united," he adds.
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