Cong plans to head coalition with UF
The Congress proposes to head the next government at the Centre with the help of the United Front even as the Bharatiya Janata Party claims it has the majority in the 12th Lok Sabha.
Besides party president Sitaram Kesri, the Congress is reportedly considering the names of former defence minister Sharad Pawar and former finance minister Manmohan Singh for the prime minister's post, according to party sources. Kesri held meetings with groups of Congress leaders throughout Tuesday; the party president even hinted at a possible rapprochement with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress .
Of the 525 seats declared so far, the BJP has secured 245, the Congress 166, the UF 95 and others 19. Results are awaited from 39 constituencies, where the BJP is leading in 20, the Congress and the UF five each.
Disclosing the Congress strategy to the media at the party headquarters this afternoon, Congress Working Committee member Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party's highest decision-making body would meet after the Election Commission announces all the LS results, to select its prime ministerial candidate. The CWC will meet at 11 am on Wednesday. So also the UF core committee. The BJP and its allies will also meet in the next day or two.
Asked whether it was proper to prevent the BJP, the largest party, from forming a government, Azad said it was the people of the country who were blocking the BJP from forming a government. If they wanted the BJP, they could have given it a clear mandate, he added.
The Congress leader interpreted that if the BJP failed to get 250 seats, it could be taken as the people's desire to have a non-BJP government.
However, there is another faction within the Congress which believes that the party must not make up a bid for power and instead sit in the Opposition. One advocate of this line, Madhavrao Scindia, the newly elected MP from Gwalior, told Star News that it was not imperative for the Congress to form the next government; instead it must use the opportunity for introspection and strengthen the party for the future.
Following the Communist Party of India-Marxist's suggestion that the Congress may be allowed to form a government with UF support, the Communist Party of India has jumped on the bandwagon. CPI general A B Bardhan today hinted that the BJP should be halted at any cost.
The views assume importance as the Left is expected to play a more dominant role in the UF politics, now that they have displaced the Janata Dal as the major partner in the combine. Though the Marxists have suffered major reverses in Kerala, the Left Front's overall tally has shown little change. The other UF partners who have retained their stronghold are the Samajwadi Party and, to some extent, the Telugu Desam Party.
Speaking elsewhere, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh endorsed Azad's views, saying the SP was ready to accept Congress leadership to keep the BJP out.
Asked whether his party would endorse the candidature of any Congress leader for prime ministership, Amar Singh said his party would consider the question at the appropriate occasion.
Asked if the TDP would back the Congress at the Centre, party politburo member V S Rao said the leadership would submit its views to the UF core committee after finalising its strategy.
Quashing reports that the TDP would no longer influence the UF destiny as in the past, Rao said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would continue to play a key role in national politics.
Top Front leaders, including convener N Chandrababu Naidu, Industries Minister Murasoli Maran and Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy are expected to reach New Delhi tomorrow.
The Congress said it had already begun negotiating with the United Front to form the next government. Senior party leader Sharad Pawar, who had led the Congress to a stunning victory in Maharashtra, had also indicated that the party is willing to do business with the DMK.
CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has already had one round of discussions with senior Congress leader Arjun Singh two days ago. Though both of them described the meeting as 'a courtesy call,' political observers say the groundwork for joint action was formulated during this meeting.
Kesri today began the process of consultation with party leaders and the United Front for staking claim to form a government.
Kesri convened an informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee during the day and called on Sonia Gandhi later in the
day.
The CWC meeting is understood to have deliberated on the
party's choice for the next prime minister, considering the names of Kesri, Pawar and Manmohan Singh.
CWC member Arjun Singh, who was also an aspirant for the post, lost in the elections.
Azad, however, left the choice of prime minister wide open when he said that it could be even a non-MP as in the past.
Senior Congress leaders like K Karunakaran, P A Sangma and Rajesh Pilot have already arrived in the capital
and started informal consultaions on the party's strategy.
Meanwhile, BJP prime ministerial candidate Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'efforts are on' to muster a majority for the BJP and its allies.
Vajpayee said there was no need for him to stake claim for the formation of a new government as it was for President K R Narayanan to take an initiative in this egard.
Addressing the media soon after his arrival in Lucknow from
New Delhi, Vajpayee said the President was already aware of the
fact that the BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the LS elections and, with its allies, constituted the largest combination in the House.
''We are leaving the matter to the President for the present,''
Vajpayee said and hoped that Narayanan would keep in mind as
to which alliances were forged before the elections and
which came into existence after the polls.
Vajpayee today spoke to leaders of some of BJP's 16 allies.
They included All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's J Jayalalitha, the Lok Shakti's Ramakrishna Hegde, the Biju Janata Dal's Naveen Patnaik, the Trinamool Congress's Mamata Banerjee and the Samata Party's George Fernandes. He asked them to contact friendly and like-minded parties before the March 6 meeting, convened for formal discussions.
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