Pranab to defend PM in Parliament

The United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party appear confident as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gears up to take on a volley of questions from the Opposition in Lok Sabha over the Indo-Pak Joint Statement, on Wednesday.

However, sources have told rediff.com that the Congress has asked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee -- one of its most experienced and credible leaders -- to defend the prime minister from the Opposition onslaught.

The de-linking of terror from the composite dialogue process and the reference to Balochistan in the joint statement -- issued after Dr Singh's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani at the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh earlier this month -- have come under attack and the Opposition has even requested the President Pratibha Patil to intervene and give right advice to the government.

The discussion on the joint statement would start after a special discussion on the issue of price rise of essential commodities, an issue that led to protests from several opposition parties in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.

Highly placed sources in the party state that the prime minister's statement to Parliament has been drafted in consultation and co-ordination with the party as well as some senior ministers of the government. The party has looked to ensure that this time there would be no slip-ups.

Privately, Congress leaders concede that after the prime minister speaks, 'the party will either follow or nuance itself' since Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is to give the party line the following day on July 30 when she addresses the meeting of the Congress parliamentary party.

Sources say that thought it is now well-established that there is a problem with the language of the joint statement, de-linking talks from terror can be interpreted and explained away by bad drafting. However, the same excuse cannot be made for 'Baluchistan', which cannot be blamed as the case of 'bad drafting'. 

Despite the misgivings and the continued unease in the party, the Congress leadership appears to have taken the call that the prime minister will be able to convince all sections and give a satisfactory explanation for the wordings of the joint statement.