Kesri Bids To Bunch Secular Parties Under Congress Fold

Within hours of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) threatening to pull out of the United Front, Congress president Sitaram Kesri yesterday appealed to all secular parties to come together under the leadership of the Congress to combat communalism. Only the Congress has a presence all over the country. In some states we are fighting the Bharatiya Janata Party, in some we are pitted against the Left, and in others we are fighting regional parties. All secular forces should come together under the Congress leadership to fight communalism, Kesri told a television channel.

The purpose behind the statement is clearly to weld a Congress-led alliance during the next Lok Sabha election, and not to bid to replace the United Front government with a Congress-led government. The arithmetic is clearly against the Congress leading a government in the present Lok Sabha given the partys existing and potential support.

United Front sources believe that if the I K Gujral government falls, there is no possibility of the President inviting another group to form the government. A mid-term election is considered the only option in such an eventuality. They cite precedents in this direction.

Elections were held after the fall of the Morarji Desai and Charan Singh governments. Similarly, after the fall of the V P Singh and Chandrashekhar governments, elections were held. No group was subsequently invited to form the government. United Front leaders believe that as in the case of the Charan Singh and Chandrashekhar governments, the elections would be held under the supervision of the I K Gujral government. Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee yesterday said: The situation is fluid. United Front constituents are taking different positions on issues. It is very difficult to say what is going to happen in the course of time. So far our position is to support the Gujral government.

According to former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, the Congress support among the minorities has not increased after the demolition of the Ayodhya structure. If the Congress thinks its secular base has increased, which they say had eroded, then it is for the Congress to take a decision, he said yesterday.

United Front sources said Gowda was in favour of going in for mid-term elections, since he believed that the Congress support could not last for too long. He would like senior leaders to think more in terms of forging a coalition keeping the elections in view which, basically, means having nothing to do with certain constituents like Laloo Prasad Yadavs Rashtriya Janata Dal and the DMK.