Rao-Kesri Rift Over Support To Uf

What is more striking, VN Gadgil, who is the spokesperson of the AICC headed by Sitaram Kesri, himself came out to clarify that there was no change in the party's decision to support the UF government. We firmly stand by our decision, Gadgil asserted during the routine Press briefing.

He clarified that the CWC had taken the crucial decision not in haste but after careful consideration of all aspects. Gadgil was denying reports in a section of the Press saying that Narasimha Rao was bitter about the support to the UF government. It was totally false, baseless and mischievous, Gadgil said asserting that Rao was for continuance of the present arrangement. In sharp contrast to this, Kesri in an interview to PTI released soon after Gadgil's reassertion, firmly stood by his election speech in UP in which he had sounded a warning to the UF government. What he had said in the course of the UP speech was not an election rhetoric as described by some UF leaders, Kesri clarified. In the process, He has introduced a new element in the relationship between the Congress and UF by saying that it should be on a quid pro quo basis.

If the UF did not support the Mayawati government (if the BJP fails to get a working majority) in UP, Congress would not support the UF government at the Centre, Kesri said.He ridiculed the claim that Congress was backing the UF under compulsions. The Congress decision was based on its own commitment to fight the BJP, he said in reference to the comments in this regard by some UF leaders.