Agency report
 
New Delhi, Dec 30: The stage appears to be set for the return of veteran Kerala politician K Karunakaran to the Congress, three years after he parted ways with it in the wake of rampant infighting in the state unit.

The senior leader arrived here on Saturday night for talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi who invited him for a meeting with her after he had expressed his desire to rejoin the party, which he served for several decades.

Ahead of his meeting with Sonia, Karunakaran said there should be an effort to take everyone together. His statement assumes significance as a section of the party in Kerala is sceptical about the veteran leader's return.

Karunakaran and his son K Muraleedharan parted ways with the Congress three years ago and floated the Democratic Indira Congress which later merged with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

His return to the Congress fold, however, is opposed by his son who said on Saturday that he would remain as NCP state president and would not associate himself with his father's political line.