Karunakaran, who passed away December 24 last year, died a deeply saddened man after he failed to broker peace between his son K Muraleedharan and daughter Padmaja.Since his death, both children have stayed put here, where the veteran leader was cremated.

“We have made a conscientious decision that the family will now remain united and there would be no political difference. My father was of the opinion that his family should remain united in both politics and in the family,” said Muraleedharan.

Seated besides her brother, Padmaja said their late father always wanted to see them together.

“This should have happened when my father was alive. We all know that some people did benefit because we were not united and now that’s the end of the difference of opinion that we have had in the past,” she said.

The differences between the two arose in 2005 when, much against his wish, Karunakaran succumbed to Muraleedharan’s pressure and broke away from the Congress party to form the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran).
Soon after this, Padmaja kept a safe distance from Muraleedharan and was not active in any sort of political activity even within the Congress.And when the father and son parted ways with the Congress, she went on a political sabbatical and hence was never removed from the rolls of the Congress party.

Muraleedharan, who is yet to be taken back into the Congress, expects that his re-entry will happen soon.

Muraleedharan made a return to the Congress party office in Kozhikode after a gap of six years to attend a function and said that he felt as if he had come back to his own home.