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Karunakaran blasts Rao

Veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran has said there was no degeneration in the party though the style of functioning of former party presidents P V Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri had created such an impression.

Rao and Kesri had not paid attention to basic issues in their attempt to consolidate their position, Karunakaran said.

Replying to questions, he said this had alienated the party from the people in the last elections. The root cause of such a feeling was that when Rao was prime minister he could not do much against the communal clashes and the growth of communal feelings. The case in point was the manner in which the Babri Masjid demolition issue was handled, he added.

The party suffered because what needed to be done was not done at the appropriate time, he said adding that this was not a breakdown in the organisation but a lapse on the part of the leadership.

Asked if he had pointed to Rao and Kesri the mistakes, Karunakaran said he was the first to come out against both when he felt that they were not moving on the right track.

To a question why he had to take the initiative for ousting both Rao and Kesri after having been instrumental in anointing them as Congress presidents, he said, ''Their functioning was not broad-based. What they had tried was to keep the party in the hands of a few at the national level.''

Karunakaran said Rao and Kesari could not function like the members of the Nehru family who never discriminated against anybody in the name of caste, creed or region.

When his attention was drawn to the reported problems in state Congress units even after Sonia Gandhi had assumed presidentship, he said, ''In politics, you could not overhaul everything overnight. The style of functioning of the party leadership had certainly changed.''

Asked if it was proper for the Congress to let down Rao when he was facing problems now, Karunakaran said had he protected the Congress, it would have to protect him. But Rao had created such a situation that he could not be protected. The situation was no different in the case of Kesri too, he said.

Karunakaran concluded saying that he had no regrets in having opposed Rao. ''I have the feeling that that is one of the best things I have done.''

UNI

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