Joshi must go, Cong tells PM

The delegation was given 20 minutes by Vajpayee at 5 pm during which time the Congress team, led by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar, reiterated what the CWC had resolved in its Friday meeting. The CWC had called the Sena-BJP government’s continuance in office unacceptable as it had become the “first government in the country to take religionas a cover for its political decisions”.

The Congress had also taken exception to Thackeray and Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s rejection of the Srikrishna report on the basis of its being anti-Hindu. Apparently, Vajpayee listened to what the Congress team said and indicated he would look into the matter.

Talking to media persons, the Congress delegation which included Manmohan Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P A Sangma and A K Antony said though no deadline was set by the Congress for the sacking of the Maharashtra Government, they had congratulated Vajpayee for reviving the Srikrishna Commission in 1996. This is a subtle way of reminding Vajpayee that he could act even now if he so wanted.

Meanwhile in Mumbai, divorcing itself from the tepid reaction of the Maharashtra Congress to the Srikrishna Commission’s findings on the 1992-93 riot, the State unit of the Samajwadi Party upped the ante against the Sena-BJP government by petitioning the government for the prosecution ofSena chief Bal Thackeray.

The SP threatened that all its legislators and corporators in the State would resign en masse before President K R Narayanan if Governor P C Alexander failed to sanction Thackeray’s prosecution. The resignations would be submitted to the President on the day following Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, SP leader Raj Babbar said.

Babbar indicated that SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav would coordinate similar mass resignations by the party’s elected representatives all over the country on the issue. However, the SP is not likely to hand a stick to the Sena-BJP to beat it with: contrary to the earlier suggestion that the party take to the streets to protest against the government’s position on the report, Babbar said all the measures it takes would be legal and that it had formed a special cell under Tushar Gandhi, state Samajwadi Party spokesperson, to co-ordinate these efforts.

Jai Sri Krishna a new slogan, as opposed to BJP’s Jai Sri Ram, coined by Rashtriya Loktantrik Manch leaderLaloo Prasad Yadav in Patna today, might thus become the clarion cry of the non-Congress non-saffron parties, in their bid to oust the Sena-BJP in Maharashtra and the BJP-led coalition at the Centre.

Both Mulayam Singh Yadav nd Laloo said the morcha would shortly organise a rally in Mumbai to mobilise public opinion against the Joshi Government.

CM breached pact

Senior leaders of both the BJP as well as Sena have expressed strong displeasure at Joshi’s highly provocative and politicised reply on the debate over the Srikrishna report.It was decided that Joshi would read the ATR in the Lower House while Dy CM Munde would make an identical announcement in the Upper House.

To ensure that Congress does not create problems, the decision of the alliance was conveyed to Sharad Pawar. Pawar assured that the Congress would not make an issue out of the report in order to maintain peace in the city. However, much to the surprise of the alliance, Joshi spoke at length on Hindutva and the need to supportHindus.