Thiruvananthapuram: With the Congress high command's efforts to settle the party crisis in Kerala moving to a decisive phase, Chief Minister A K Antony left for New Delhi today (Dec 11, 2003) for a crucial round of discussions with the central leaders.

Antony is expected to have talks with the party chief Sonia Gandhi and a team of central leaders comprising Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee and R K Dhavan, who had been entrusted with the task of finding a solution to the prolonged factional strife which has seriously dented United Democratic Front (UDF) Government's image, party sources said.

The central team will also hold discussions with senior leader K Karunakaran on his being discharged from Escorts Hospital where he had been under treatment for the last few days.

While Karunakaran had made it clear that nothing short of Antony's removal was acceptable to his faction, the Antony camp wanted disciplinary action against Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Muraleedharan and two "I" group ministers for 'precipitating the crisis'.

Concerned over the delay in settling the Congress crisis, most UDF partners had held that their views should also be heard by the high command as it did in 1995 when Karunakaran was replaced by Antony as chief minister.

PTI