Payback Time: A Creditor CallsFrom The Gaol

All in all, chief minister A.K. Antony is in a fix. Though he now feigns ignorance, a high-powered committee of the udf has asked the CM to work to secure Madani’s release.The pro-Madani camp in the udf has one handle: a purported deal offered by Antony lieutenant Oommen Chandy and ex-udf convenor K. Sankaranarayanan that the front would do everything possible to get him freed in return for his support in the assembly polls.

Bearing down on Antony is also old bugbear K. Karunakaran, who has found the situation fit to seek more humane treatment of Madani. To complicate matters, Madani’s wife and children have threatened to fast unto death, beginning October 16, outside the secretariat.