Cong Mulls House Panel To Buy Time

Senior Congress leaders yesterday discussed the possibility of buying time by handing over the interim report of the Jain Commission of inquiry into Rajiv Gandhis assassination to a joint parliamentary committee. However, they were unable to reach a decision.

There was a pall of gloom over the party as its senior leaders tried to figure out a way to avoid bringing down the government (and thus causing elections) after the publication of the interim report. The government has undertaken to table it in Parliament on the first day of the winter session.

Party chief Sitaram Kesri called a meeting of party MPs on Monday, two days before the session is to begin, to assess the mood. The Congress Party in Parliaments executive is to meet the next day, on the eve of the session, and the Congress Working Committee may meet too.

Senior leaders said they were unclear about what Sonia Gandhi, who commands great influence with party MPs and cadre, wants. They added, though, that her aides had indicated that she might seek to unseat Kesri in the process of pushing a hard line on bringing those responsible for the assassination to book.

They spoke of Sonia nominating an alternative to lead the party. Former finance minister Manmohan Singhs name was mentioned in this connection, along with that of A K Antony. Singh has a clean image, an international reputation and is a Sikh to boot, they argued.

Kesri had not sought an appointment with Sonia since she returned to the city after a foreign visit on Tuesday. A senior party leader interpreted this as a signal that he did not treat her as the arbiter of the partys strategy.

While Kesri did not want to risk bringing down the government, senior party leaders said Arjun Singh, Jitendra Prasada and K Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy seemed to be trying to position themselves as pro-Sonia by taking a hard line against the United Front. However, the three CWC members did not seem to be coordinating their moves.