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Letter by letter, Congress starts building govt

The Congress Tuesday started receiving letters of support from various political parties.

It received a shot in the arm when Telugu Desam Party member S Vijayarama Raju, a third time MP from Parvathipuram, told the media at the All India Congress Committee headquarters that he would vote for the Congress unmindful of consequences.

Efforts were on to secure the support of other TDP MPs, Raju said.

Incidentally, former Congressmen and Union ministers Buta Singh and Kalpnath Rai also met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to extend support to her candidature.

Gandhi had a series of meetings Tuesday, including a discussion with West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

Further, senior Congress leader Arjun Singh met with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kahagam general secretary J Jayalalitha.

Gandhi made it clear that Basu was not in the race for prime ministership. ''I believe that he is not interested,'' was how she put it.

Singh said letters of support were coming from all the parties that had voted out against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. There were other ''migratory birds'' too but they would come at the "right time," he said.

''There are doubting Thomases everywhere but I can assure you that if the Congress is making a government it will be headed by Ms Gandhi'' Singh said.

Singh said things would start moving only after the Budget was passed by Parliament on April 22. Indications were that President K R Narayanan would invite Gandhi as the leader of the second largest party. Only after this, the exercise of forming an alternative government would begin.

Asked about his meeting with Jayalalitha, he said he had handed over 'some information' that she had sought from Gandhi when they met on Monday.

Replying to a question, he said the Congress was not luring other parties -- it was up to them to decide whether to support a secular government or not.

The party was not in touch with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam, he said in answer to another question.

Meanwhile, TDP member Raju attacked party boss Chandrababu Naidu. "It is to cover up for his chameleon character that Mr Naidu is accusing the Congress party of destabilising governments at the Centre for its selfish ends," he said.

Naidu had accused the Congress of trying to wean away his MPs. There had been no such attempt by Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y S Rajasekhara Reddy or any other Congress leaders, Raju said.

UNI

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