UF, Congress clear way for coordination panel
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Eager to mend fences, the 13-party United Front and the Congress have cleared the way for a coordination committee, nearly seven months after both parties promised then President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma that they would do so.
A top Congress functionary said both sides had agreed to set up the panel before the impending winter session of Parliament, beginning on November 19. It is learnt the coordination committee will have three members from each side and will include Prime Minister I K Gujral and Congress President Sitaram Kesri.
According to sources at Congress headquarters, the party is ready to name, other than Kesri, two senior leaders -- most likely Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh -- as its nominees for the committee; the UF, however, will announce its nominees only after it knows the names of the Congress representatives.
However, it is learnt that, besides the prime minister, the UF may opt for Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta and Professor Madhu Dandavate, deputy chairman, Planning Commission.
Despite the conciliatory mood, differences still persist over some finer points. It is understood that the Congress wants the committee to discuss all policy matters before they are sent to the Cabinet. The party also wants all proposed legislation and related issues dealt with by the panel before they are taken up in Parliament.
The UF agreed to discuss proposed legislation and related matters, but said that policy matters come under the purview of the government and that they are not even discussed by the UF steering committee. The Congress has yet to react to that one.
While the fragile relationship between the UF and the Congress appears to have been strengthened by the positive moves there are indications that both groups don't fully trust each other.
For the present, Kesri is playing it safe and trying to quell rebellion the ranks, some of whom want the party to share power with the Gujral government.
One Congress leader claimed Kesri was keeping a wary eye on Rashtriya Janata Dal member Professor Ranjan Yadav, who on Sunday had made an open claim to that effect. Kesri has asked his aides, particularly Tariq Anwar, Madhavrao Scindia and Arjun Singh, to report any dissident move to him.
While the tone and tenor of the noted Congress stormy petrel Mr Rajesh Pilot continues to be stridently anti-Kesri, the reactions of other potential Kesri rival, like Sharad Pawar and P V Narasimha Rao, are not clear. Which is why Congress functionaries intend to closely watch what happens during the impending winter session of Parliament.
EARLIER REPORTS:
Congress, UF spurn President's order for coordination committee
Kesri has second thoughts on co-ordination panel
Congress, UF leaders battle over coordination
committee
Gujral to be sworn in as prime minister
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