Antulay Says Kesri Should Resign

Senior Congress leader A R Antulay has suggested that Sitaram Kesri should quit as the president of the party and leader of the Congress Party in Parliament (CPP) for rejuvenation of the organsiation.

Somebody has to say, Kesriji, enough is enough. Quit now, so that the party which is dying will be rejuvenated, Antulay said in an interview to a weekly newsmagazine outlook.

Stating that dissidence had always been there in the Congress, Antulay said I, for one, have decided to sink my differences with Sharad Pawar. I will be happy if he becomes CPP leader in place of kesri and also the Congress president.

Asked whether the withdrawal of support by the Congress to the Deve Gowda government came as a surprise to him, Antulay said that he had no clue.

Despite his seniority, it seemed he did not deserve to be invited to the CWC or consulted, the Congress leader said, adding the CPP never discusses party strategy; the leader speaks and the debate is wound up.

Recalling that when a resolution was passed converting unconditional support to issue-based support, he was not consulted, Antulay said one fine morning, we are summoned to Delhi and handed a three-line whip. Are we bonded labour? Is loyality to be equated with servility?

Questioning the very validity of the CWC, Antulay said Kesriji is the caretaker president. He has taken such a decision which affects the future of the party and country. By whose mandate?

Opposing any move to go to the polls, Antulay said that he would not seek a Congress ticket. The people will hold us squarely responsible for unwarranted and undesirable elections. If anyone now believes in forming a government with Congress support from outside, his fate will be the same as that of H D Deve Gowda, he said.

Asked whether the Congress should go back to the old arrangement with the United Front, Antulay said: No. The Congress should join the government, not merely support it from outside.

Replying to a question, Antulay said that he wanted to vote for the confidence motion on April 11 and he had to go against his conscience or he would have been expelled from Parliament. This anti-defection law has made us all servile, he said.

Antulay took strong exception to Kesri describing Gowda as nikamma (useless) and said by calling him so you are calling the country nikamma.

It does not befit Kesriji at his age and as a Congressman to say this, he remarked.