Deve Gowda refuses to step down

In a last ditch attempt to save the United Front government, several Front leaders urged Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday morning to step down, but he declined to oblige.

Highly-placed Front sources said Deve Gowda told the UF leaders, who called on him at his home and made the suggestion, that ''I am prepared to face the vote of confidence.'' The meeting ended abruptly.

Other than the Left parties, the sources said all the major constituents of the Front -- the Janata Dal, the DMK, the TMC, tyhe TDP and the AGP -- favoured that Deve Gowda make way for someone else to ensure the continuance of Congress support to the government. The Left parties, however, were neutral on the issue.

The Congress has made Deve Gowda's removal as the condition for continuance of support.

With the fall of Deve Gowda's government becoming imminent, the Front leaders swung into action and held a full-fledged meeting at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan on Friday morning.

All the top Front leaders, except the prime minister attended the meeting. Those present included AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, TMC president G K Moopanar, Industries Minister Murasoli Maran, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, CPI-M general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

The leaders felt that the UF government could not be saved unless Deve Gowda stepped down. Such a move would also help to avert a mid-term poll and attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government.

The Left refused to go along with the majority. Bardhan asked journalists, "Will the change of leadership save the situation?"