Congress, United Front prepare for showdown

By ruling out any change in its leadership, the United Front has indicated its willingness to face a vote of confidence in Parliament on Friday.

Addressing a crowded press conference in the capital on Thursday evening, CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, leader of the UF team which conducted two rounds of talks with the Congress, said the Congress wanted to impose its own man as leader of the United Front and run the government.

Some people, Surjeet complained, had tried to create a wedge between the constituents of the United Front.

No committed party, the respected CPI-M leader said, could allow anyone else to ask for a change in leadership. The Front sought to raise the issues mentioned by the Congress in its letter to the President. ''We asked on what basis does the Congress say that communal forces are taking over,'' he said.

Surjeet said the Front was prepared to set up a mechanism to examine the various points raised by the Congress and agree to any accommodation or understanding wherever necessary.

However, when the Congress and the Front met on Thursday, he said the Congress once again ''started the same story.''

''They told us that they will get back to us by 3 pm but at that time we are told the Congress was sticking to its claim for a change in the Front's leadership,'' he disclosed.

Surjeet ridiculed the Congress for ''shifting its stand'' before playing its final card for Deve Gowda's replacement with a Congress-led government.

The UF leader said the Congress first withdrew support on ''some grounds,'' but on the second day it staked its claim to form a Congress-led government.

Going by the arithmetic of MPs in the United Front, Surjeet said the Congress may have calculated the collapse of the Front and some of the constituents going along with the Congress in its attempt to form the government at the Centre.

''But all the calculations of the Congress went haywire when the UF remained united like a rock,'' he said.

If the Front government loses the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on Friday, it appears likely that Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda will advise the President to dissolve Parliament and call a mid-term election.

This became clear when both Surjeet and earlier, Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav said the Front was ready to face the people.

The Congress tried twice on Thursday to force the Front to toe its line. First, Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Santosh Mohan Deb issued a whip asking all Congress MPs to vote against the Deve Gowda government.

Then, the party set a deadline -- 1100 hours on Friday -- for the Front to take a decision on Deve Gowda's removal as prime minister. The Congress also spoke of a possible alliance with the Front even after the government fell.

Indicating the Congress's willingness to hold a dialogue with the Front even after the government fell, Congress spokesman V N Gadgil said ''We are prepared to negotiate any arrangement with them which will help to contain communal forces.''

The issue of the Congress participating in a coalition with the Front, Gadgil said, did not figure in the two rounds of talks since the UF did not budge on the change of leadership issue.

Front leaders have, since the crisis began on March 30, repeatedly rejected the chance of supporting a Congress-led government.

The Lok Sabha will convene at 1100 hours on Friday and debate the motion of trust till 1900 hours. The prime minister will reply to the debate at 2000 hours About 22 MPs are expected to speak in the debate.

Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma met President Shankar Dayal Sharma at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday to apprise him of the special Lok Sabha session.

Although the meeting was described as a courtesy call, it is learnt that Sangma informed the President about the situation regarding the Budget in the event of the government's failure to win the vote of confidence.

In a similar situation in 1991, then speaker Rabi Ray had also met the then president R Venkataraman and informed him of the situation created when Chandra Shekhar resigned as prime minister.

Following the President's advice, speaker Ray had discussed the matter with all the parties and a special session was held to pass the Budget. In the present situation, Parliament has approved the vote-on-account till the end of May, but the Budget has yet to be passed.

At a meeting with the President, Speaker Sangma said the tax proposals will lapse if the Finance Bill is not passed by Parliament by May 14. This will put the country in a deep financial crisis.

Interestingly, Sangma told a television news network on Wednesday that the country could not afford another election.

However, one Front leader says the coalition has decided to go to the people following the failure of the talks with the Congress. Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav said told journalists ''We are ready for polls if the situation arises.''

After the second round of talks Yadav said he felt there was no meeting point between the Congress and the Front, hence he decided not to participate in any more discussions.

The Front, he said, had told Congress leaders not to insist on a leadership change, but to talk about the people's problems. However, he revealed that the Congress insisted on a change in the leadership. ''Chalo chalte hain chunao mein, (so, let's go to the polls), the Bihar leader added.

Sangma was not Dr Sharma's only visitor. Tamil Maanila Congress president G K Moopanar also briefed the President about the political situation in the country. The meeting, which is considered ''significant'' in political circles, lasted half-an-hour.

Talks fail over leadership issue