Deve Gowda meets Karunakaran to sort out differences with Congress

George Iype in New Delhi

In an effort to patch up with an angry Congress president Sitaram Kesri, Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda called on senior Congress Working Committee member K Karunakaran on Monday.

Accompanied by his Man Friday, Tourism Minister Chand Mahal Ibrahim, Deve Gowda spent more than 30 minutes at the Congress politician's residence. "It was a courtesy visit by the prime minister, but naturally we discussed politics," Karunakaran told Rediff On The NeT.

The senior Congress leader from Kerala, who spearheaded the campaign to oust former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao from the party leadership, said Deve Gowda sought his opinion on a number of issues including a possible hike in petrol and sugar prices.

"I also asked the prime minister to give a free hand to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the number of politically sensitive cases it handles," the former Union industry minister added.

Asked if Deve Gowda's visit was intended to pacify the Congress president, Karunakaran said: "Kesriji is not angry with the prime minister. But certainly there are differences between the Congress and the United Front government over a number of issues."

"But we are constantly engaged in mutual talks to iron out our differences," he said, and added:"And hence Gowdaji's visit."

Karunakaran's aides said Deve Gowda's urgency in arranging a meeting was to repair the growing rift between the prime minister and Kesri on a number of sensitive issues that have cropped up in the last couple of weeks.

While Kesri and his supporters have trained their guns on the UF government, attacking its 'poor economic policies,' Deve Gowda's effort seems to be to win over key senior Congress politicians to ensure that the three--month-long Budget session of Parliament passes smoothly.

The prime minister did not go to the Congress chief's iftar party last week, an event that provoked much political speculation. Kesri reciprocated by staying away from an iftar party hosted by Deve Gowda.

Kesri's supporters point out that in the last few days there have been hectic efforts from the UF side to show the Congress chief in bad light, rekindling old cases, "to somehow fix him."

On January 19, Central Bureau of Investigation officials questioned Kesri in connection with a court case relating to his personal and family assets. Congress leaders had then threatened that the party would not remain silent about any attempt by the government to malign the party president.