Kesri plays for time, postpones crucial CWC meeting

The CWC is now likely to meet tomorrow and the only issue on the agenda is whether to withdraw support to the Gujral Government or seek a solution to the crisis. Sundry options were being floated in the air but no Congressman was sure of any concrete suggestion. Indications are that the Congress is left with very little options on the matter now.

Today, party Rajya Sabha member Hanumantha Rao sent a strongly-worded letter to Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) chairman Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy demanding action against Subbirami Reddy and others who went along with DMK and BJP MPs to the President.

There were around 20 Congress MPs in the 50-plus delegation of first-time MPs who felt the House should not be dissolved. Subbirami Reddy felt the “nation” cannot afford another election so soon but this view has not been taken kindly. Rao’s letter said Subbirami Reddy’s action went “against the stated party position of not allowing the DMK to continue in the government”.

“The sentiments of Congressmen in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere have been hurt by this. By going along with DMK and BJP MPs (to the President), party discipline has been broken. I request you to take prompt action so that such incidents do not take place in future,” Hanumantha Rao asked Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy.

The DAC chairman himself is a hardliner who reiterated today that support should be withdrawn to the UF if the Congress demand was not agreed to. Reports suggested Reddy told Subbirami Reddy in strong language what he thought of the MPs’ action. The development is indicative of the division within the party over its attitude to the UF Government, after the UF rejected the Congress demand of ousting the DMK.