Then PM Narasimha Rao ditched my father: Karunakaran's son
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 16 : Late Congress leader K. Karunakaran's son K. Muraleedharan on Sunday claimed that then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao "ditched" his father and then Kerala Chief Minister after the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
"As far as I know, and what was told by him (Karunakaran), he was crestfallen by the way Rao (then Congress President) behaved in 1995. It was Rao who ditched him. (Congress leader) G.K. Moopanar called me on March 15, 1995, to tell my father to resign as Chief Minister as per Rao's directive, which he did the next day," Muraleedharan, a Congress legislator, told the media here.
"He (Karunakaran) told me that Rao was responsible (for his removal). No one from Kerala had ever asked for Karunakaran's removal. What happened in the Congress then was nothing but the usual factional feud," the Congress leader said.
Muraleedharan also said that had someone from the Nehru-Gandhi family been at the helm either in the government or the party in 1995, Karunakaran would not have suffered the "humiliation". Karunakaran passed away in December 2010.
The Congress leader said that he will appear, if asked to, before a three-member committee set up by the Supreme Court to probe the role of three police officers in the espionage case and tell them what he had said on Sunday.
Reacting to his sister Padmaja Venugopal's assertion that the Indian Space Research Organisation espionage case was the creation of five Congress leaders which led to Karunakaran's resignation on March 16, 1995, Muraleedharan said that he did not know on what basis she had made the statement.
Her statement came after the Supreme Court on September 14 directed the Kerala government to award Rs 50 lakh compensation to ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan for his unnecessary arrest and harassment and mental cruelty he underwent due to false implication in the espionage case.
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Minister Parameshwara says remarks on properties linked to drug peddlers 'misunderstood'
Tumakuru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Saturday said his recent remarks on the demolition of properties linked to those involved in narcotics trade were "misunderstood and misinterpreted".
His clarification follows remarks made two days ago on the government's uncompromising crackdown on the drug menace, including action against properties linked to foreign nationals allegedly involved in drug trafficking.
"It is unfortunate. It is taken in the wrong sense. I didn't mean that tomorrow itself I am going to send bulldozers and demolish the houses. That was not my intention. It was wrongly taken," he told reporters here.
Responding to Congress MLC K Abdul Jabbar's question in the legislative council on the growing drug menace in Bengaluru, Davangere and coastal districts, the minister on Thursday detailed the extensive enforcement measures initiated since the Congress government assumed office.
Pointing to the involvement of some foreign nationals, the minister had said, "Many foreign students from African countries have come to Karnataka. They are into the drug business. We catch them and register cases against them, but they want the case to be registered because once the case is registered, we cannot deport them."
"We have gone to the extent of demolishing the rented building where they stay," he had said.
