Gujral pilloried over Akali offer, RJD men

"The party has not taken any decision on fielding him from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat," JD general secretary Bapu Kaldate informed reporters after the meeting. "In any case," he added, "we’ll not go by what the Akali Dal wants." At last night’s core committee meeting, CPI (M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet reportedly criticised the PM maintaining a complete silence on the Akali offer. Amidst all these developments, the Akali Dal today reiterated its offer.

In Chandigarh, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra told reporters Gujral would contest the Jalandhar seat with as much backing from Akali Dal as it would give to any other candidate.

Although Gujral has not indicated whether he would accept the Akali Dal’s offer, it is believed that the latter would not have publicly made the offer – going against the wishes of the BJP – without Gujral’s tacit approval.

It’s not just the Akali offer which has landed him into trouble. He has been accused by his party colleagues of being soft on the three Rashtriya Janata Dal ministers. Its central secretariat felt that there was absolutely no logic in the continuance of three ministers – Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Kanti Singh and Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad – in the government after the UF core committee had virtually served ultimatum on them.

The two issues are likely to figure prominently in the party’s parliamentary affairs committee meeting scheduled later this month. With the knives out for him, the PM may find the going tough if he does not act now.

On both these issues, Gujral found himself completely isolated in the UF core committee meeting held last night. Surjeet, who took the lead in expressing the coalition partners’ concern, found support from almost all quarters. They felt that wrong signals were being sent by Gujral’s largesse to the Akalis who responded by offering the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat.