Congress, UF may sink differences to keep BJP at bay

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Congress and the United Front appear to moving towards some sort of settlement after the party withdrew support to the government on March 30, if only to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power. The modalities of the deal are yet to be discussed.

The first move was made after the UF steering committee met on Wednesday morning and sent a formal letter to Congress president Sitaram Kesri, urging him to hold talks and break the impasse. The steering committee also set up a co-ordination committee to negotiate the deal.

On receiving the letter, Kesri summoned an emergency meeting of the Congress Working Committee. According to party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress welcomed the UF request.

There are still some problems to be ironed out. The UF is insisting that Deve Gowda cannot be replaced as prime minister, one of Kesri's main demands. UF leaders feel the CWC's enthusiasm also proves it is on the back foot.

But Kesri has agreed to a settlement only on condition that some concessions are made to his party. One senior Congress leader said the talks will also discuss the possibility of substantial 'Congress control' in the UF government.

Meanwhile, the BJP announced that its parliamentary party would meet on Thursday to discuss the political situation. Senior party leader Krishan Lal Sharma told mediapersons that the BJP would explore all possibilities which could put it in a 'very advantageous position'. He chose not to elaborate.