Congress: Twice bitten, thrice shy

NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Stung by the criticism it is target of on the Uttar Pradesh turmoil, the Congress today said its support to the United F...

NEW DELHI, Oct 23: Stung by the criticism it is target of on the Uttar Pradesh turmoil, the Congress today said its support to the United Front would continue for the moment and began looking inward to pin responsibility for the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPPCC) split which ensured Kalyan Singh’s victory on the motion of confidence.

The party stressed it was not withdrawing support to the UF in a hurry. “We cannot change governments everyday like we change our dresses. Most Lok Sabha members don’t want dissolution and, in any case, Lok Sabha polls cannot be held with the same frequency as a provincial election,” CWC member Pranab Mukherjee said.

The clarification came after informal consultations between senior Congress leaders on the issue. The dominant stand was that the Congress could ill-afford a further worsening of its post-UP image.

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Party president Sitaram Kesri then deputed Mukherjee to issue a statement on the Congress’ continued support to the UF and why the party sought dissolution of the UP Assembly and imposition of President’s Rule. “We are being criticised as if we are opposed to democratic forms of proving majority in the House. There is nothing like that,” Mukherjee said.

He sought to put the blame on the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for indulging in horse-trading blatantly and gaining a majority by fraud, at the same time as moves were initiated for disciplinary action against the UP dissenters.

Kesri held a meeting of AICC general secretaries Mukherjee attended though technically not an office-bearer briefing them on how the Congress image has to be rectified. Following this, Kesri appointed the party’s Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) with CWC member Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy as the head.

Others in the committee are A K Antony, Manmohan Singh, Lalthanhawla and R K Dhawan as the member secretary. The immediate implication of this committee is that it will look into the UP unit’s rebellion. The role of party vice president Jitendra Prasada is already a big question in the party.

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Naresh Agarwal and the others who walked over to the BJP are all close Congress vice president returned from Lucknow yesterday and reported to Kesri on what he thought had happened in UP; Kesri is however awaiting the report of UPCC president N D Tiwari.

However, the party began to guard its flock after the UP embarrassment. Referring to reports that the BJP is planning to wean away Congress MPs too, Mukherjee said, “If somebody thinks there will be a Naresh Agarwal in the Congress parlimantary Party (CPP), he is mistaken.” The Congress also ruled out any large scale tie-up with UF constituents for the next general election.