M A I N   N E W S

Karunakaran mollified
Allocated three more seats

New Delhi, April 15
In a bid to sort out its problems in Kerala, the Congress today conceded three more seats to the Karunakaran faction which had earlier been allotted to Antony supporters for the May 10 Assembly poll in the state.

The party today announced changes in its candidates for three constituencies — Peravoor, Vadakke Kera and Aaranmulla — where A.D. Mustafa, M.A. Chandrasekar and Prof Sarala Devi would now contest in place of Nuruddin, K.P. Dhanpalan and K. Shivdasan, AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

Mr Azad, also in charge of Kerala affairs, said these were the changes sought by Mr Karunakaran, who, he added, had also agreed to withdraw his resignation from the CWC during his visit to New Delhi to attend the Parliament session beginning tomorrow.

These developments come close on the heels of Mr Azad and party treasurer Moti Lal Vora’s visit to Trivandrum as AICC emissaries to mollify Mr Karunakaran who had resigned from CWC expressing dissatisfaction over the denial of tickets to his supporters and his daughter Padmaja.

The two AICC emissaries met party President Sonia Gandhi last night and briefed her about their talks with Mr Karunakaran and other leaders in the state to resolve the problems.

Asked if Mr Antony was taken into confidence, he said Antony, who met him, made it clear that in principle he was not in favour of “opening” the list of candidates but at the same time he would abide by the decision of the high command.

Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, appreciated the Congress High Command’s decision to resolve the crisis, saying that it would strengthen the front to defeat the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

Kerala PCC vice-president and estranged Congress leader K. Karunakaran’s son, K. Muraleedharan, welcomed the AICC decision to concede three more assembly tickets to the “Karunakaran faction”.

“We certainly welcome the AICC decision. The UDF is going to win”, Mr Muraleedharan said. PTI

Seven bodies recovered from canal
Our Correspondent

Hisar, April 15
Seven bodies were recovered from the Talwandi Rana minor at Mingni Khera village near here. The bodies were highly decomposed.

These were noticed by villagers when water supply to the minor was restored yesterday after a long closure.

They informed the police which took over the bodies.

According to the villagers the bodies had reached the village, which is at the tail of the minor, with the flow of water.

The bodies were brought to the Civil Hospital here late last night from where these were sent to Rohtak Medical College for post-mortem.

According to the police there was a possibility that the bodies had reached the tail-end of the canal from some other districts as no reports about missing had been registered with the district police, Mr Man Singh DSP, has been asked to investigate.