Crisis continues as Kesri sends another letter to Gujral
George Iype in New Delhi
A beleaguered Congress leadership has once again put off its ''final decision'' on the fate of the United Front government by sending yet another letter to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on Wednesday.
Congress sources said party president Sitaram Kesri's letter has repeated the demand that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers be dropped from the Gujral government. The DMK has been indicted by the Jain Commission's interim report on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
At the end of the two-hour Congress Working Committee meeting, held at the party headquarters on Wednesday evening, Congress general secretary Oscar Fernandes carried Kesri's letter to Gujral.
Political circles believe Kesri's move is intended to buy time to resolve the political crisis amicably.
The move, however, has come as an anti-climax. Early on Wednesday evening, Congress politicians claimed the CWC, at its informal meeting at Orissa Bhavan in the afternoon, had decided to withdraw support to the Gujral government and that Kesri had sought an appointment with President K R Narayanan at 2000 hours. Neither event occurred.
UF leaders also geared up for the Congress attack. "We expect the Congress to withdraw support as Kesri is meeting the President at 2000 hours," CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told Rediff On The NeT, when he cancelled his appearance on The Rediff Chat this evening.
Sources said the Congress failed to pull the plug due to differences within the party. A clear division is said to have emerged within the CWC over the issue, especially going in for a mid-term poll.
The demands of Sonia Gandhi followers like Arjun Singh, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy and Jitendra Prasada -- to withdraw support to the UF government -- was ignored by the CWC.
Senior Congress leader K Karunakaran attributed the delay to "the lack of consensus within the party. However, we are still sticking to our stand that the DMK ministers should be dropped from the Gujral government."
CWC member Pranab Mukherjee -- who confirmed late tonight that Kesri had sent Gujral a letter but said he would not disclose its contents until the prime minister sent his reply -- summed up the Congress dilemma in Congress-speak: ''We are not exploring every possibility, but we are looking at any possibility.''
The Congress Crisis, November 1997
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