By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Breaking his long silence on the return of his archrival and former Congress chief minister K. Karunakaran into the party, leader of opposition in the state legislature and Congress leader Oommen Chandy said there were no problems between him and the veteran leader.
“He has returned to our family and is the senior-most Congress leader. It is true that I have not met him so far. I am attending a meeting, which he is organising at Kochi on Feb 1. He called me up and I have said that I will be in Kochi,” said Chandy here Friday.
The intense rivalry between the two leaders is an open secret. The rivalry intensified after Chandy became the chief minister in 2004. Karunakaran and his son, K. Muraleedharan, broke away from the Congress party in 2005 and formed their own outfit.
“He has had differences of opinion with the high command and then he left. But now that he is back, everything is fine,” said Chandy.
Chandy added that gone were the days when the factionalism in the party took centre-stage.
“Now there is only one group and it is the ‘Congress group’. There is no more scope for any more groupism in the party,” said Chandy when asked if Karunakaran will again encourage factionalism within the party.
In reply to a question if he would take the lead in try to get Muraleedharan back in to the party, Chandy said that he was helpless in such issues.