By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Former Congress leader and former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran and his son K. Muraleedharan Friday parted ways for all political purposes.
Muraleedharan did not turn up at his father’s residence here for a meeting of all former office bearers of the Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran (DIC-K) party which the veteran leader had formed after leaving the Congress two years ago.
Muraleedharan became the state NCP president after Karunakaran merged DIC-K with the state unit of the NCP last year.
Karunakaran had last month made his intentions clear that he was willing to make an unconditional return to the Congress party, but his son is not in favour of returning to the Congress fold.
“Friday’s meeting was attended by a large number of former DIC-K leaders and we have entrusted Karunakaran to take the necessary political steps and we would all be with him,” said Kodoth Govindan Nair, a trusted Karunakaran aide.
“In politics there is no father-son relationship. There are ideological differences and Muraleedharan had already intimated that he is taking a different political stand and he has every right to do so,” added Nair.
“It has also been decided that those who took part in the meeting today need not take part in the executive meeting of the NCP to be held here tomorrow,” a leader who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Muraleedharan said the NCP is not taking his father’s stand against him seriously.
“Even Sonia Gandhi did not take action against Karunakaran, so the NCP will not take any action against Karunakaran for what he did today. I have already made it clear that I will not return to the Congress party even if my father returns,” Muraleedharan told reporters in Kozhikode.