Congress, UF leaders battle over coordination committee

George Iype in New Delhi

One day after Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral won the confidence vote in Parliament, his United Front coalition partners and the Congress party have already begun fighting over the terms and conditions of the proposed coordination committee.

Setting up a ten member coordination panel for a constant dialogue on crucial policy issues between Congress and the Front was a pre-condition imposed by President Shankar Dayal Sharma before the installation of the new UF government.

The super committee consisting of five members each from the Congress and the UF, to be headed by Congress president Sitaram Kesri and Gujral has not yet been formed.

But fissures have surfaced among UF partners and Congress leaders over the nature and jurisdiction of the committee.

Congressmen want the Gujral regime to regularly apprise the committee of all government policies, contentious national issues, major official announcements, even the law and order situation in the country.

According to Santosh Mohan Deb, the Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha, his party does not want the coordination committee to remain "a toothless tiger." "It should be an apex body where the prime minister and other members should freely discuss with the Congress members all important government initiatives," he said.

Deb told Rediff On The NeT that the panel should also take into consideration the Congress party's recommendations which might be necessary on many economic, social and secular programmes.

"Our effort is to ensure that the new UF coalition runs smoothly and effectively," said the Congress leader, adding that his party will "not poke its nose" into the day-to-day administration of the Gujral government.

But the UF constituents, particularly the Left parties, have staunchly opposed the demands of the Congress.

A senior UF leader said the coalition partners want the coordination committee to be united, where the Congress and the government can discuss important legislation and major policy initiatives.

"But our government will be unable to comply if the Congress members demand to reveal the contents of, for instance the Bofors investigation, half way through," he told Rediff On The NeT.

Left parties are similarly worried that Kesri will virtually run the government if the coordination panel is empowered to discuss the A to Z of administrative decisions. Left leaders also fear the new panel will undermine the importance of the existing UF steering committee.

"The coordination committee should be strictly restricted to debating issues of national importance and not a platform to discuss the government's administrative decisions," Somnath Chatterjee, the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader in the Lok Sabha, told Rediff On The NeT.

"The Congress leadership should not think the committee is a mechanism to take over the reins of the country from the UF government," the CPI-M leader warned.

While the committee is yet to take shape, hectic lobbying is on among UF and Congress leaders to get onto the coveted panel.

Congress leaders vying for their inclusion in the committee include Sharad Pawar, K Karunakaran, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Santosh Mohan Deb, V Narayanaswamy and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.

UF leaders pitching for a place in the panel include Ram Vilas Paswan, Srikant Jena, Murasoli Maran, Mulayam Singh Yadav and C M Ibrahim.

The committee is expected to be constituted before the Budget session of Parliament resumes on Wednesday, April 30.