The crisis-ridden Kerala Congress is headed for a split.
 
With senior party leader, K Karunkaran, adamant on fielding a candidate against Congress nominees for Monday's Rajya Sabha elections, a compromise looks a remote possibility.

On Saturday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi dispatched two trouble-shooters -- Ghulam Nabi Azad and R K Dhawan -- to Kerala to talk to the warring factions led by Karunakaran and Chief Minister A K Antony.

Azad and Dhawan were scheduled to meet Karunakaran on Sunday morning and request him to withdraw his candidate -- Kodoth Govindan Nair. The Congress has two candidates in the fray -- Vayalar Ravi and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai.

"If the party high command fails to assuage Karunakaran's feelings, it is now certain the Congress party in Kerala would split," a senior party leader close to Karunakaran told rediff.com.

On Saturday, Karunakaran denied he was quitting the Congress to join the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party. His close aides said Karunakaran was not interested in joining hands with any breakway Congress group.

"Karunakaran has served the Congress all his life. He has informed us there is no question of his joining any other party," P P Thankachan, a senior state Congress leader, said.

But Thankachan did not rule out the possibility of the Congress faction headed by Karunakaran breaking away.

"This crisis in the Congress has been created not by Karunakaran, but by those who are opposed to him in Kerala and in New Delhi. The party high command should have allocated one Rajya Sabha seat to the Karunakaran group," Thankachan pointed out.

Many believe Karunakaran's decision to field a rebel candidate is just pressure tactics to bring about the downfall of the A K Antony government.

An Antony loyalist claimed that Karunakaran's only ambition now is to become the chief minister of Kerala again.

If Karunakaran's nominee wins the election, the party high command would certainly take disciplinary action against him and his supporters.

If his candidate loses, it would affect Karunakaran's stature, thus making it necessary for him to leave the party.