Cong May Re-Admit More Former Partymen

The Congress has completed the first round of its reunification after the integration of the party led by N D Tiwari on Thursday, All-India Congress Committee general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad said yesterday. The second should be the last and final, he added, causing speculation that more former members would join the party when it is ready to make a bid for power.

While addressing the partys daily press briefing instead of the designated spokesperson, Azad would not say which parties or leaders would join the party in the second round.

He did mention that the Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) was the only one of the splinter parties which the Congress had wanted back in the first round that had not joined. Madhavrao Scindias Madhya Pradesh Vikas Parishad, S Bangarappas Karnataka Congress Party and the Tiwari Congress have rejoined. A large number of Congress leaders, including Makhan Lal Fotedar and Ahmed Patel, have been in touch with TMC president G K Moopanar in recent days, but the TMC evidently calculates that it is better off retaining its separate Tamil identity. One of those who recently spoke to Moopanar came away with the impression that the TMC would support a Congress government, but would wait till other United Front constituents destabilised the Deve Gowda government. The Janata Dal, for instance, has shown signs of instability over the chargesheet that party president Laloo Prasad Yadav is likely to face soon.

Congress leaders insist that they are in no position to mount an attack on the Gowda government, but are gradually strengthening their numbers in the current Lok Sabha. Also, there is no sign of the party preparing for another general election soon.

Azad made it clear yesterday that the party would not bend over backward to form an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party in Punjab, as it did in UP.

An alliance with the BSP would be an important part of the partys strategy if it were preparing for general elections.

Azad made it a point to state that reports that N D Tiwari and Arjun Singh had not received a warm welcome when they rejoined the party on Thursday were off the mark. He pointed out that the two leaders, along with a host of other leaders who had left the parent Congress with them, had visited the AICC headquarters with their supporters on Friday and were welcomed by party president Sitaram Kesari.

Singh and Tiwari have already begun to reactivate their networks of support in the party. Singh telephoned such former loyalists as Ajit Jogi to invite them over for sweets. The impact of their return is likely to be most obvious in the partys Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh units.

UP leaders Jitendra Prasada and Pramode Tiwari have been strenuously opposed to the readmission of Tiwari, Mohsina Kidwai, K N Singh, Sheila Dikshit and other such leaders. They will now be averse to accommodating too many of them in senior positions in the state unit.

In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has aligned with former Union minister V C Shukla, obviously in preparation to fend off a political attack by Arjun Singh.