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Wrapping up his Delhi visit senior Nationalist Congress Party leader K Karunakaran told his former party, the Congress, that he would return to it if responsible leaders take some initiative.
 
"The NCP is working with the Congress at the Centre. If the Congress wants it to be strengthened to fight communal forces more effectively we have no problem in siding with it," he said adding the Congress has to correct some of the existing mistakes to make it happen. 

When asked repeatedly whether he was indicating a possible return to the Congress he retorted: "It seems you have some confusion. I don't have any about what I said." Elaborating further the octogenarian leader said he would not mind strengthening the Congress if the call comes from responsible people.

On his first visit to the capital after leaving the Congress in 2005 the four-time chief minister met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Kumar Mukharji and many others. "My visit was fruitful. The Congress can't surge ahead like this. To strengthen it some of the past mistakes will have to be corrected," he said.

However minutes after announcing this his son K Muralidharan, NCP state president, differed with his father and ruled out a Congress-NCP merger in the near future. "I am sure Karunakaran will not make any move without consulting the party workers. As of now we have no plan to merge with any party," he said. 
 
Out in the cold after leaving the Congress Karunakaran had formed the Democratic Indira Congress in 2005. He tried to get into the CPM-led Left Democratic Front and threw his weight behind the coalition in local body polls. But a section of the CPM (hardliners) and smaller constituents opposed his entry tooth and nail forcing the Politburo to intervene and sever all connections with him. In the last assembly elections he was forced to join the Congress-led UDF on its terms and lost all seats his party contested. Later he tried a "backdoor entry" into the LDF camp by merging his fledgling party with the Nationalist Congress Party. But his hopes were shattered again when the LDF expelled the NCP from the coalition.
 
Email author: baburamesh_in@yahoo.com