VETERAN Congress leader K. Karunakaran’s son and Kerala PCC chief K. Muraleedharan today sent a report to party president Sonia Gandhi on the recently held Rajya Sabha elections, exempting himself from any blame for the dissent that was witnessed during the polls and also pointing to the lack of evidence of any disciplinary action against him.Speaking to The Indian Express from Thiruvananthapuram, Muraleedhran said: ‘‘No MLA in Kerala is against the party high command. The rebel candidate got 26 votes because of infighting in the party. I, on my part, tried my best to make the official candidates win.’’He also said he would abide by whatever the party high command decides, but stressed, ‘‘Senior leaders should be called to Delhi and the matter sorted out.’’This comes even as senior leaders R.K. Dhawan, Ghulam Nabi Azad and general secretary in-charge of the state Ambika Soni today met twice and thrashed out a ‘‘course of action’’ that would tackle both indiscipline and also restore party unity in the state.They also discussed the five-page report of Muraleedharan, in which he reiterates his allegiance to Sonia and requests that he should be kept out of the controversy. Tomorrow, the leaders will put their decision before Sonia.Over 21 MLAs had defied the party whip and voted for the rebel candidate against the two official candidates who won — Vayalar Ravi and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai.The Congress is facing an impossible dilemma in the case where taking action could split the party while not taking any may encourage dissent. Taking action against Karunakaran might anger a large section of the MLAs and pose a threat to CM A.K. Antony. The other course could embolden the Karunakaran faction that they can get away with anti-party activities.The Congress also has a wary eye on the CPI(M), which today indicated that it was waiting for the Antony government to collapse under its own contradiction. Commenting on the stability of the government, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said his party was not averse to taking an initiative provided the Antony government fell on its own in wake of the Karunakaran revolt.He, however, made it clear that the Left was unlikely to provide the push. ‘‘Our objective is not to bring down the government. But on their own if they get isolated, we will take initiative,’’ Surjeet said today.Emerging from the Congress meeting, Dhawan said: ‘‘The course of action we have decided includes disciplinary action. But we have always believed in unity and discipline.”
