Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) (DIC(K)) is a defunct political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. DIC(K) was founded at a meeting in Thrissur

Thrissur

This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...

 by the K. Karunakuran

Kannoth Karunakaran

Kannoth Karunakaran was a senior politician from Kerala, India belonging to Congress party. He was a former Chief Minister of Kerala, Home minister of Government of Kerala, and Cabinet Minister for Industries of Government of India. He was one of the most influential persons in Kerala politics for...

 faction of the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

 on May 1, 2005. Initially it was called National Congress (Indira), but the name was changed DIC(K) for registration purposes in August of the same year.

Karunakuran's son K. Muraleedharan

K. Muraleedharan

K. Muraleedharan is an Indian politician from Kerala. He was elected as member of the Lok Sabha thrice from the Kozhikode constituency, representing the Indian National Congress, subsequently leaving the party in 2005.-Personal life:K. Muraleedharan was born to K...

 was the party president. The party allied with the Left Democratic Front in the local elections and made success. But the party was not considered for a tie up during the state assembly elections that followed. The party could not make any impression in the elections as expected. Later, Karunakaran and Muraleedharan, along with some other party members, moved to Nationalist Congress Party

Nationalist Congress Party

The Nationalist Congress Party is a centre to centre left political party primarily based in the state of Maharashtra, India.-Background:...

. After a brief while, Karunakaran returned to Congress.

History

The party was formed as a result of internal problems in the Congress Party. The break was preceded by much acrimony within the ruling Congress Party, due to perceived slights to Karunakaran, disregarding his lifelong services to the party. Karuunakaran's son Muraleedharan and Kerala Congress leader T. M. Jacob were the other leaders of the party. Following its split, the DIC(K) has been warmly received into the opposition Left Democratic Front combine. This acceptance has all but guaranteed DIC(K)'s return to power as the unpopular ruling combine is likely to lose badly in the assembly elections, which are due shortly.

The party has however not been void of internal dissent. Ahead of the 2005 panchayat elections, DIC(K) aligned with the Left Democratic Front. However, ahead of the 2006 Kerala legislative assembly elections the party entered into an understanding with the United Democratic Front

United Democratic Front (India)

United Democratic Front is an alliance of political parties of Kerala state in India. This alliance is led by the Indian National Congress....

 to try to ensure K. Muraleedharan's victory in the assembly polls. That led to a grouping within the party forming a 'DIC(K) Left Forum'. The Forum had plans of founding a new party after the elections.

Later, DIC decided to merge with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...

. This resulted in a chaos in DIC and many of the leaders of the DIC have decided to go back to the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

. The party is defunct now.

Party flag

The party's tricolour flag has the charkha and picture of Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...

as symbols.