United Front to choose new leader on Thursday

George Iype in New Delhi

The United Front steering committee will elect a new leader to succeed Caretaker Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Thursday, April 17, Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan said on Monday.

The new leader will be introduced to the UF Parliamentary Party on Sunday, April 20, the day before the special three day session of the Lok Sabha to pass the Budget and Finance Bill. Bardhan said the new Front leader will stake a claim to form the government in the light of the Congress assurance of support to such a leader.

''It is possible the new prime minister will be sworn in on April 20 itself'', the CPI leader remarked.

Hemmed in by the United Front partners, Prime Minister Gowda finally offered to step down from the UF leadership late on Sunday night to facilitate another coalition government with Congress support.

Deve Gowda's offer to quit came during a marathon UF steering committee meeting. Barring the Left parties, the other UF constituents insisted that a change of leadership is the only solution to the fortnight-long political crisis.

UF spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said some leaders argued that Deve Gowda should step down to avoid a mid-term election and enable a compromise with the Congress.

"The prime minister has expressed his willingness to forgo his office," Reddy told Rediff On The NeT, on Monday, adding that a change of leadership is contingent on the Congress support being "credible and qualitatively different from the one offered in the past."

The surprising shift in the UF stand -- replacing Deve Gowda with a new leader -- came after hectic political talks between the various UF constituents.

The prime minister's removal was openly advocated by the four regional parties which constitute the federal front within the UF -- the Asom Gana Parishad, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Telugu Desam Party and the the Tamil Maanila Congress.

The dramatic developments began unfolding at Tamil Nadu house where the Federal Front leaders -- the AGP's Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the DMK's M Karunanidhi, the TDP's Nara Chandrababu Naidu and the TMC's G K Moopanar -- met for three hours and issued a guarded statement that the UF should chalk out a strategy to avoid a mid-term poll.

The Federal Front leaders were later joined by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal working president Sharad Yadav. The discussions saw the emergence of a consensus that the prime minister's exit as UF leader is the most acceptable solution to end the political stalemate.

Armed with this strategy, the Federal Front leaders, accompanied by Mulayam Singh and Sharad Yadav, drove to the UF steering committee meeting at the prime minister's home at 7, Race Course Road.

Sources said when the meeting was progressing towards finding a solution with Deve Gowda remaining Front leader, Naidu argued that the need of the hour was a change in leadership. The Left leaders were taken aback and insisted that they were not ready for any arrangement without Deve Gowda.

But as the discussions progressed, Naidu's supporters increased with Karunanidhi, Mahanta, Moopanar and Mulayam Singh insisting that there could not be any solution as long as Deve Gowda remained the leader.

Insiders disclosed that there was a near total isolation of the prime minister within the UF as also his Janata Dal party. Deve Gowda was keen, they said, to recommend the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and force a mid-term poll on the nation.

But there were no takers for Deve Gowda's proposal and the UF partners departed with a resolution that there will be more informal talks with the Congress as well as between the UF constituents to decide the future course of action.

The Left parties stuck solidly with the prime minister, arguing that Deve Gowda's departure would send wrong signals to the nation. In the end, the views of the Federal Front leaders prevailed.

The Left parties will hold internal talks and place a number of demands to the UF partners before endorsing the prime minister's offer to relinquish office as United Front leader.

United Front convenor and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has stoutly defended the move to replace H D Deve Gowda as its leader, stating that it was in the 'national interest'. The country cannot afford a mid-term election at this juncture, he said.

Naidu told newsmen in Hyderabad on his return from Delhi, "it is not a question of who had climbed down on the leadership issue. We have to keep the national interest above everything else."

Stating that no political party was prepared for an election, Naidu said a poll would cost the government Rs 10 billion. "Why should the nation be taxed by our rigid stands?" he asked.

Even if an election was held, the AP chief minister felt "communal forces" might be placed in an advantageous position or it might result in another hung Parliament, with no party gaining a majority.

"The main objective is to keep the Front united and intact," he said. "The institution is important, not individuals".

Meanwhile, President Shankar Dayal Sharma has authorised Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda to take necessary steps to ensure that ''essential and time-bound'' financial business is transacted in Parliament even though the government has been voted out of office.

Dr Sharma is understood to have sent a communication to the caretaker prime minister to clear all financial business, including the Finance Bill, ''suitably'' in Parliament in good time since the Lok Sabha has been adjourned sine die.

The communication says it is independent of the formation or otherwise of a new government to succeed the 10-month-old coalition government which was voted out on Friday following the withdrawal of support by the Congress party.

A copy of this communication has also been sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma who met the President on Saturday to inform him about the implications of the transaction of financial business.

Since the Finance Bill has to be passed by May 14 and the vote-on-account is valid for a period up to May 31, a special session of the Lok Sabha has been called from April 21 to pass the Budget.