Congress and UF continue informal talks;
Left digs in its heels on withdrawal of letter issue

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The United Front steering committee postponed the election of its new leader to Friday, following the death of senior Janata Dal leader Biju Patnaik. Meanwhile informal talks continued between UF convenor Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Congress chief Sitaram Kesri for the proposed government with Congress support.

UF spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy said the steering committee merely passed the condolence resolution following Patnaik's demise on Thursday and adjourned. It will meet again on Friday evening after its members return from Bhubaneshwar.

Reddy said Naidu was continuing informal talks with Kesri regarding the formation of the proposed UF government with Congress support. He declined to answer related questions.

Naidu, who met other UF leaders like Janata Dal working president Sharad Yadav and Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan, said he had spoken to Kesri in the morning. He said unity among UF constituents was the "topmost priority" and all of them had agreed that the UF leadership issue would have to be resolved through consensus. Both Sharad Yadav and Paswan echoed similar sentiments.

The Congress leadership, however, made no move to withdraw Kesri's letter to President Shankar Dayal Sharma staking the party's claim to form the government. This is apparently in defiance of the Left parties's demand that it should be done before the UF sent a letter to the President about the formation of a new government.

Kesri met Congress Working Committee members and discussed the situation arising out of the Left parties's demand. Senior Congress MPs said Kesri did not want to withdraw the letter since he did not want the Bharatiya Janata Party, waiting in the wings, to capitalise on the political vacuum and stake its own claim to form a government if the letter was withdrawn.

The Congress has claimed it will write to the President, extending support to the new United Front leader to form a government. Without the new leader being named, it would not be possible to send a formal communication to the President, sources said.

It was apparent that Kesri is again playing the wait-and-watch game to outmanoeuver the UF leadership; it was as clear that the Left was in no mood to ease the pressure on the Congress to make it withdraw its letter before the UF sent one of its own. Meanwhile, the other UF constituents are trying to resolve the UF leadership issue, but their agitation shows it is not going to be an easy task, thanks to the Left.

Even though some UF leaders hinted on Wednesday that the Left's tough stand was mere posturing, there is a feeling in political circles that another potential deadlock is developing, one that could even lead to a mid-term election.