Karunanidhi drops another bombshell!
The division in the United Front over inducting the Rashtriya Janata Dal into the 13-party combine deepened on Friday with DMK president M Karunanidhi openly disputing the front's claims.
The Tamil chief minister refuted Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and UF spokesman S Jaipal Reddy's claim that the combine had decided against accommodating the RJD. Karunanidhi said the leaders deferred a final decision on the issue till the next core committee meeting on July 25.
Addressing the media on his return to Madras from New Delhi, where
he took part in the deliberations of the core group on Thursday, the
chief minister said Reddy's statement was misleading.
Karunanidhi said a compromise formula suggested by him to
resolve the issue was commended by Front convenor and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Tamil Maanila Congress president G K Moopanar and Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mohanta.
They had suggested that the formula could be discussed at the next
meeting on July 25, he said.
The chief minister said he had argued for admitting the RJD into
the UF while certain leaders of the JD and the Left parties
opposed it.
Karunanidhi made it clear that he was not referring to former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet when he talked of certain leaders who tried to implement their personal agenda.
Asked about Karunanidhi's refutal, Reddy declined to comment but leaders who are opposed to the inclusion of the RJD including Surjeet, Janata Dal President Sharad Yadav and Gowda stuck to Thursday's official version.
''Reddy was hundred per cent correct,'' asserted Gowda and Sharad Yadav.
As the UF plunged into confusion with such contradictory statements, Gujral admitted that was not in a position to do anything about the chargesheeted politicians who are not ready to quit their positions.
Addressing a national seminar in New Delhi, Gujral said, ''What can be done in a situation where despite open appeals political leaders involved in legal cases don't leave their seats?'' He however did not name the Bihar chief minister.
Gujral added that often he was called a ''weak prime minister'' who
''did not take any action''. ''But the laws bind our hands. At the
Inter-State Council meeting on Thursday, all chief ministers said that
Article 356 should not be used. What can we do in this situation?''
Speaking about the general decline in political morals and
values, Gujral said all parties had double standards. ''All
parties believe that a goonda who is on their side is okay. But a goonda opposing them is bad.''
As for the women's reservation bill, he said in public all parties supported the issue. But behind closed doors, they were for giving it a quiet burial, Gujral said.
In another development, Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav directed his three aides in the Gujral ministry not to resign.
He also threatened the UF with dire consequences if it
dared to oust his party from the Front.
UNI
EARLIER STORY:
UF won't accommodate Laloo's RJD
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