Vajpayee agrees on censure to end Govt-Oppn standoff in LS

Minister of State for Home, Haren Pandya announced the withdrawal of the circular.

Senior BJP leader Naidu air-dashed to Gandhinagar so as to persuade the BJP-ruled government in Gujarat to withdraw the circular which was giving some anxious moments to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ministry at the Centre.

Earlier, Vajpayee relented to Opposition pressure in what is seen as a calculated bid to end the fortnight-long standoff that has paralysed the Parliament.

Despite some grudging allies, Vajpayee brought peace in the Lok Sabha saying his government had no objection to a discussion on the issue under rule 184 which provides for voting.

However, the House was paralysed on Wednesday on a different issue — political developments in Bihar.

The sudden turnaround in government’s stand came this morning when Vajpayee spoke his mind at BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting saying the issue could not be allowed to drag on disrupting Parliament. In such a situation the government has to break the ice, sources quoted him as having said.

Immediately later, he conveyed his decision at an emergency meeting of his allies, many of whom were reluctant to have a censure discussion because of their ideological differences with RSS.

Sources said the Prime Minister also did not seek any assurance from the allies, some of whom have openly said they would support the government should there be a vote on the issue despite their reservations on Gujarat Government’s decision.

The Gujarat government was reported to be under considerable pressure from within and without over the issue which had been rocking parliament since the last ten days.

The January three circular, which lifted the 1986 ban on government employees from participating in the RSS activities, had led to Congress president Sonia Gandhi holding a rally in Ahmedabad on January 30 against the decision and suspension of Congress legislators in the Assembly.

The circular was issued a few days before the RSS organised a state-level camp near Ahmedabad in January in which, its leaders had said, about 5,000 government officials and employees had also participated.