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Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony is likely to get some 'special visitors' next week. Waiting to enter his north block office in the state secretariat are 23 legislators belonging to the faction headed by senior Congress leader K Karunakaran.
The octogenarian member of Parliament has decided to depute members of the legislative assembly as 'visitors' after the chief minister refused to meet them collectively or convene a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.
The MLAs want to press their demand for a change in the police policy that leaves no room for politicians to 'interfere' in the law and order machinery. Senior leaders of the faction have given Antony a week to rethink his stance.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Muralidharan, who also happens to be Karunakaran's son, is supporting Antony in discouraging such factional activities.
Muralidharan, rattled by his father's attempt to promote his daughter Padmaja Venugopal as the leader of his faction, is trying to take up the issue with the high command at the All-India Congress Committee's programme implementation committee meeting in the last week of December.
Karunakaran is not keen on the move since he has no hold over the committee comprising Ambika Soni, Janardhan Poojari, Antony and Muralidharan.
Antony is unlikely to concede Karunakaran's request since he knows that the move is to dislodge him from power. The senior Congress leader has been using the police policy to consolidate the disenchanted sections in the Congress and the United Democratic Front it heads for settling scores with his long-time rival.
Karunakaran, who has been making his displeasure with Antony clear by skipping Parliament, has already ensured the support of a group formed within the coalition by the R Balakrishna Pillai and Jacob factions of the Kerala Congress. He is also counting on Communist Marxist Party leader M V Raghavan, whom he patronized after the latter was expelled from the Communist Party of India, Marxist.
The support of these parties, however, will not bring him the required number of MLAs for a final assault on Antony. That is why the criticism unleashed by Antony's lieutenants Oommen Chandy, M M Hassan and V M Sudheeran against the policy has encouraged Karunakaran.
The former chief minister is also seeking the support of the opposition. A closed-door meeting he had with CPI-M leader E K Nayanar early this month has sparked rumours.
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