New Delhi, Oct 06: Hardening its stand on the demand by Karunakaran faction, Congress today ruled out replacement of Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony in the wake of the defeat of its candidate in the Ernakulam Lok Sabha bypoll last week. "There is no question of any change in the leadership in Kerala,” AICC general secretary in-charge of the state's affairs Ahmed Patel told reporters here after meeting party chief Sonia Gandhi this morning.

Patel said that Kerala PCC chief k Muraleedharan, who was summoned here to explain the reason behind party's debacle in Ernakulam Lok Sabha bypoll, met him but did not raise the issue of change of leadership.
Muraleedharan, son of senior party leader K Karunarakaran who has been in the eye of storm following his support to rival CPI (M) candidate in the Ernakulam byelection, would be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explain reasons behind the defeat.

The KPCC chief had earlier met AICC general secretary R K Dhawan, who is part of the three-member committee headed by L P Sahi to go into all aspects of the debacle.
Declining to divulge the details of his talks with Muraleedharan on Kerala developments, Patel said, "it is an internal matter and I am not going to discuss it".

After meeting Gandhi, Patel had a long meeting with AICC general secretary and a senior party leader from Kerala Vyalar Ravi and is understood to have discussed the matter in the backdrop of the briefing by Muraleedharan.
Bureau Report