Kesri Preparing For Mid-Term Polls

Give them a long rope, they will hang themselves.

Convinced that this approach would prove more beneficial to the Congress than rocking the United Front government directly, party president Sitaram Kesri has decided to wait and watch the developments following the split in the Janata Dal. Playing the good boy to the hilt, he has told anybody willing to listen that his party's support to the I K Gujral government will continue.

But beneath the visible bonhomie, preparations are indeed underway for a mid-term election. And the forthcoming plenary session of the party in Calcutta is expected to provide an opportunity to gear up the organisation towards such an eventuality. It would be the first time Kesri would meet all those who voted for him in the presidential election in June. Yesterday, Vijaybhaskar Reddy, a member of the Congress working committee and a close adviser to Kesri, predicted mid-term elections following the split in the Dal. According to him, pressure is mounting on the Congress to take up the leadership and give a 'new direction' to the country.

'The writing on the wall is clear and everybody knows that snap polls are inevitable. People are convinced that only the Congress can provide a stable government', Reddy said during his visit to Hyderabad. On Thursday last, he met Prime Minister I K Gujral in the capital. During the meeting, Gujral had expressed concern over reports that the Congress would use the issue of oil price hike to withdraw support, and force mid-term elections.

Reddy was clear that the Congress would continue support to the United Front government, but he was equally clear in his mind when he added: 'We are not interested in breaking them. But if they break on their own, we will seize the opportunity. The United Front government is a bundle of contradictions, and is a non-performing one'. In Reddy's perception, the split in the Dal would have a significant impact on the UF government. He said the Congress was keenly watching the developments, and it remained to be seen if Gujral can 'keep his flock together'. Meanwhile, in order to contribute tacitly to the turmoil in the Dal, the Congress is learnt to have agreed to bail out the Laloo government in Bihar when a motion of no-confidence comes up in the state Assembly.

This is likely to take the form of the 29-member Congress group abstaining from voting. Party sources confirmed that Laloo Yadav has already contacted Kesri on this.