Observers Convey Anti-Vaghela Mood Of Party Unit To Kesri

Congress observers on the political situation in Gujarat have reportedly stated in their report that the majority of Congress workers in the state want party support to the minority Shanker Sinh Vaghela government withdrawn.

Party spokesman V N Gadgil said Congress president Sitaram Kesri was yet to take a decision on the issue. The three member observers team comprising Pranab Mukherjee, Vyalar Ravi and Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, submitted their report to Kesri on Tuesday, Gadgil said.

According to Congress sources the party is now confident that the BJP will not be able to form a government following the fall of the Vaghela government. Its calculation is that the state would come under Presidents Rule as no party will be able to form a government.

The sources said Congress might take a decision after a week, around the time Prime Minister I K Gujral returns from his three-nation tour.

When asked whether some party functionaries had met Governor Krishan Pal Singh, Gadgil said that he had no knowledge of any such meeting. Gadgil parried a question on whether a decision was possible before the September 27 meeting of the Congress Working Committee.

Governor Krishan Pal Singh, returned to Gandhinagar on Tuesday after a five-day stay in the capital during which he is said to have met Kesri and Mukherjee.

Singhs visit assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the AICC observers visit to Gandhinagar. It is also significant because there was a section in the Congress which wanted Singh to be replaced, a suggestion to which the United Front government did not respond favourably.

The Congress has been worried about the possibility of the power passing into the hands of the BJP. Vaghela had broken off from the BJP leading to the fall of the BJP government last year. He had later formed a government of the breakaway faction of the BJP with outside support from the Congress.

A section in the Congress feared that around 25 MLAs of the Vaghela faction might switch loyalty and rejoin the BJP thus installing it in power. The BJP is merely 18 MLAs short of majority.

Kesri had sent central observers to Gujarat following demand from a large section of partymen to withdraw support to the Vaghela Government.