Kesri buys time, puts off CPP meet

NEW DELHI, March 12: Doing a quick rethink on the possibility of government formation, the Congress today put off its crucial Congress Parli...

NEW DELHI, March 12: Doing a quick rethink on the possibility of government formation, the Congress today put off its crucial Congress Parliamentary Party CPP meeting to the evening of March 16 after the AIADMK8217;s intransigence towards the BJP.

Officially, the reason being given is that MPs from the north will find it difficult to attend the meeting earlier slated for March 14 but this was the case even before it was first scheduled. What actually prompted the change seems to be the BJP8217;s problems with the AIADMK which have begun even before the Rightist bloc was called to form a government.

Some sections of the Congress now feel that if the BJP8217;s prime ministerial nominee Atal Behari Vajpayee goes to President K R Narayanan with a figure of 225 MPs, the Congress has a chance to beat that figure and therefore be called upon to form a government and prove its majority.

All this is at the moment in the realms of conjecture but some fast rethinking is underway in the Congress. However, not everybody inthe party is happy at the change in strategy. CWC member Sharad Pawar, who stands a good chance of being chosen the CPP leader, is believed to be unhappy at the deferring of the meeting.

Apparently, Pawar feels that the postponement is a ploy by party president Sitaram Kesri to buy time. Kesri, whose resignation letter is being eagerly awaited by the party, hasn8217;t yet acted on his decision to quit. And since the CPP meeting is always presided over by the party president, the anti-Kesri sections believe he could stall for time till the 16th evening.

Though the argument is thin, people close to Kesri seem to feel that if the President chooses to invite the Congress as the second-largest party, the invitation has to go to the party president implying that if Kesri hangs on, he could still stage a coup. However, this is a very remote possibility.

The die is firmly cast against Kesri and the wait is only to allow to put in his papers in a couple of days. Today, the debate appeared to be what to do if the BJPgoes with fewer numbers than expected. Former union minister Kamal Nath, who has been consistently taking an anti-government line, said:

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8220;Even the thought process of forming a government should start in the Congress only after the BJP fails to form and sustain the government.8221;Another former minister Rajesh Pilot too feels that the Congress must milk the BJP8217;s discomfiture to the full. 8220;Let them deal with the problems. They have enjoyed for too long the benefits of being in the Opposition. The Congress must move only after they embarrass themselves,8221; Pilot said.

Much though depends on Sonia Gandhi and Pawar who has come close to 10, Janpath in recent weeks after the party8217;s good showing in Maharashtra.

Pawar has been in touch with sections of former Congress-friendly parties like the Trinamul Congress and the AIADMK and feels that the Congress must wait before making its move.

Much of this will be discussed in the now deferred CPP meeting on Monday evening.