Gowda Visits Kesari

Kesaris harsh criticism of Gowda and his government just about 12 hours later did not take away from the impression that Gowda was trying to win Kesaris confidence. The meeting was said to have been over the stalemate on government formation in UP.

This was the prime ministers second visit to Kesari, the first being to escort him to the United Front steering committees meeting on UP some weeks ago. Gowda has, on the other hand, visited Rao often. He is said to have been confident that the Congress would not withdraw support to his government as long as Rao was the CPP leader.

Kesaris backers, however, are eager that the new party president should also take over as the CPP leader, preferably during the winter session. Gowda may have realised that he must now cultivate Kesari, who has been gradually turning up the heat against his government.

A senior AICC functionary held that the CBIs strong opposition against bail to Rao in the St Kitts forgery case and the charge sheet that was filed against Rao on Wednesday over the alleged bribery of JMM MPs were strong signals of a shift in the attitude of the Deve Gowda government towards Rao. Gowda has so far been seen to be eager to defend Rao.

Officials argued that the Delhi High Court has placed the CBI team that is investigating the bribery case beyond the supervision of senior officers and so Gowda could not have influenced at least the framing of the charge sheet.