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Congress, UF try to end deadlock
George Iype in New Delhi
Hectic parleys were on today to break the Congress-United Front deadlock and form an alternative government at the Centre.
Afraid of a mid-term election, both the Congress and the UF leaders have mellowed their stands.
Congress president Sitaram Kesri has met a number of senior party
leaders and MPs -- Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik and senior leaders like A K Antony, Arjun Singh, Jitendra Prasada among others -- to elicit their views on the UF government's fate.
Many Congress MPs told Kesri that the decision to withdraw
support to the UF government is ''untimely''.
''Some of us fear this is not the right time for a poll,'' a Congress MP from south India told Rediff On The NeT. They feel that efforts should be made to form a government, excluding the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham which has been indicted by the Jain Commission in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
Considering the Congress MPs's mood, Kesri's first priority would be to form a government at the Centre with the support of prominent regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Tamil Maqnila Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Kesri hopes that more regional allies
would join a Congress coalition to avoid a mid-term election.
Kesri has the active support of Samajwadi Party chief and Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in this regard. Yadav has often expressed his keenness to prevent the collapse of the Congress-UF alliance.
The second plan involves the Congress participation in the Gujral government minus the DMK. Congress leader
Sharad Pawar is believed to be in favour of this arrangement as
he expects to bag the deputy prime ministership.
Congress Working Committee member A K Antony told Rediff On The NeT that ''the party is not averse to discussing alternative arrangements. We are ready for talks with the UF leadership, provided they agree to drop the DMK from the coalition.''
Antony said the Congress has been supporting the UF government
for many months now without ''imposing any demands.
But the Rajiv Gandhi assassination report is an emotional
issue for the Congress and it is regrettable that the coalition
partners fail to understand our feelings.''
Congress sources said Kesri will meet the prime minister later
tonight or on Sunday in an effort negotiate an amicable
settlement.
Gujral, who is on a day's visit to Calcutta, will fly back to Delhi tonight. On Sunday, he is expected to send a reply to the Congress president's letter, demanding the DMK's ouster from the government.
Kesri will convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee soon after he gets Gujral's letter to take a final decision on continuing/withdrawing support to the UF government.
Meanwhile, the UF, too, softened its stand towards the Congress
on Saturday. UF spokesperson, Information and Broadcasting
Minister S Jaipal Reddy, said the government will not place
the Thakkar Commission report on the Indira Gandhi assassination and the controversial Bofors papers in Parliament on Monday.
''The present controversy is on the Jain Commission report
and that has already been tabled in Parliament,'' he added.
On Friday, senior Janata Dal leader and Karnataka Chief Minister
J H Patel had said the Gujral government will table these
reports in Parliament.
RELATED REPORT:
UF, Congress playing 'childish games' with nation: BJP
EARLIER REPORTS:
The Congress Crisis, November 1997
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