Congress to withdraw letter to President Sharma

The Congress has decided to withdraw its letter to President Shankar Dayal Sharma which led to the fall of the H D Deve Gowda government. Senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee said this would become a formality once the United Front elected a new leader.

A resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee on Monday said the letter staking a claim to form the government was to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from exploiting the vacuum following the fall of the United Front government.

'It would have been unwise at that stage (March 30) to allow a political vacuum to emerge which could be exploited by parties of communalism,' the resolution said.

Mukherjee, who is believed to have drafted the letter to the President, said the Congress will not stake a claim to form a government, provided the United Front changed its leader.

The CWC also authorised party president Sitaram Kesri to constitute a team to talk to the Front as and when the Congress received a formal communication about the change of UF leader.

Mukherjee said the Congress will not interfere with the election of the new UF leader.

He reiterated that three guidelines would govern the Congress's support to the next UF government: National interest, the necessity to combat communal forces and avoiding a mid-term poll.

Mukherjee said it was not the right time for the the Congress to consider joining a coalition government with the Front. And he had a word of caution for the next prime minister. Performance, he declared, would determine how long the Congress would extend its support to the new UF government.