With the violence in Gurgaon doing the Congress image no good, the party swung into a damage control exercise on the eve of a Haryana bandh called by its Left allies. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to step in and defuse the situation at the Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India in Manesar.Mukherjee is said to be talking to both sides and is trying to synthesise the stand that the company and the workers have taken, and reassure the Japanese that one incident did not mean a vitiation of the investment climate.The CPI(M) too got into the act of reassuring the Japanese and Left MPs took a less strident position in Parliament today. They were reportedly under pressure from the CPI(M)’s West Bengal unit in particular not to do anything which could queer the pitch and mean a loss of Japanese money coming into the state.Both Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi let it be known to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that it could be bad news for him if he were not able to control the situation.‘‘It has been conveyed to him, though not in so many words, that there are many waiting in the wings to replace him,’’ said a senior Congress leader. Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister had expressed concern at the goings-on in Gurgaon and urged the chief minister to order a probe and punish the guilty. Singh is said to be worried about the spillover effect that the Gurgaon developments may have on his government.Though Hooda agreed to a judicial inquiry and moving out the Gurgaon DC and superintendent of police, this suggestion had reportedly been made to Hooda by senior Congress leaders soon after the clashes on Monday. But the Haryana Chief Minister was said to have expressed his inability to take such action.
