Rediff On The NeT: Congress, UF spurn President's order for coordination committee

Congress, UF spurn President's order for coordination committee

George Iype in New Delhi

Nearly two months after Inder Kumar Gujral was sworn in as prime minister, the Congress leadership and the United Front have spurned an order from President Shankar Dayal Sharma to constitute a co-ordination committee to ensure the 13-party coalition government's smooth functioning and survival.

Setting up a 10-member co-ordination committee for a constant dialogue on crucial policy issues between the Congress and UF was a pre-condition that President Sharma imposed for the installation of the Gujral government in April.

The committee was to be constituted before Parliament resumed its Budget session on April 30.

The committee was to be jointly headed by Gujral and Congress president Sitaram Kesri and it was meant to be a platform to discuss crucial policy matters, iron out differences of opinion and even settle intra-party disputes between the Congress and UF partners.

But in what is considered to be an outright rejection of an order from the President of India, neither Gujral nor Kesri has taken any initiative to set up the co-ordination panel.

"Whenever we raised this issue within the UF steering committee meetings, we were told that the committee will be set up soon. Both Gujral and Kesri have maintained a stony silence on the matter," Communist Party of India national secretary D Raja told Rediff On The NeT.

"The idea behind this co-ordination committee was to make sure that any communication gap between the Congress and the UF does not cause the government's downfall as it happened with H D Deve Gowda," he added.

According to UF spokesman, Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy, the committee has not yet been established because "both the Congress and Janata Dal have been busy with organisational elections."

"But the prime minister and the Congress president are constantly in touch with each other and that is why there have been no major problems so far," Reddy told Rediff On The NeT.

UF insiders said the real reason for Kesri and Gujral to shun their commitment to the President was the differences of opinion that ensued between UF coalition partners and Congress leaders over the nature of the committee.

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

But the UF constituents, particularly the Left parties, opposed the Congress demands and insisted that the panel should be empowered to discuss only important parliamentary legislation and major policy initiatives.

UF leaders were worried that Kesri would virtually run the government if the co-ordination panel was empowered to discuss the government's administrative decisions. They also feared that the panel would undermine the importance of the UF steering committee.

According to Santosh Mohan Deb, the Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha, the Gujral government's refusal to set up the committee means that "they are not ready to accept the Congress recommendations on the country's economic and social programmes."

"But I think Prime Minister Gujral is regularly in touch with Kesriji and this is what makes his government remain in power," Deb told Rediff On The NeT.

Sources say hectic lobbying among Congress and UF leaders to get berths on the panel was another reason for it not taking off. Congress leaders who vied for inclusion in the committee included Sharad Pawar, K Karunakaran, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Santosh Mohan Deb, V Narayanaswamy and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. UF leaders who pitched for a place in the panel included Ram Vilas Paswan, Srikant Jena, Murasoli Maran, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chand Mahal Ibrahim.

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