NEW DELHI, FEB 28: In contrast to the frantic all-out efforts made by the BJP and its allies to ensure that the bill to impose President's rule in Bihar did not get defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the Congress party took the trial of strength rather lightly. This seems to indicate that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not keen to precipitate a situation where the Vajpayee government might be compelled to resign after the embarrassment of losing in the Lower House.Sonia clearly felt that at this juncture it would be unwise to topple the Vajpayee government and she made efforts to rein in some of her party leaders and third front members who were working enthusiastically towards this end.While the BJP brought in two ailing MPs on stretchers into Parliament for the vote, Sonia in fact permitted six of her own party MPs to remain absent even though they were in a position to come to Delhi. The party high command conveyed to the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Orissa not to come to Delhi for votingthough Ashok Gehlot and Giridhar Gamang had not yet resigned their Lok Sabha seats. Gehlot gave up his MP-ship only after Sonia gave the go ahead.Laxman Singh, Lok Sabha MP and a brother of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, was allowed to stay home in bed instead of attending Parliament. Three other Congress MPs Jaffer Sharief, Ishwar Chandra and Shantibhai Patel were absent for their personal reasons.Significantly both K Natwar Singh and P Shiv Shanker were told on Wednesday in London that they need not rush to Delhi to participate in the voting. But by then, they had made all travel arrangements to return.Sonia's indirect helping hand to the government seems clear from a directive to the Leader of the Opposition, Sharad Pawar, chief whip P J Kurien and other senior party functionaries not to hold any `formal' meetings with the other like-minded parties to mobilise support to defeat the Presidential resolution in the House.Sonia was reportedly disturbed to learn that the Pawar-Kurien duo andspokesman Ajit Jogi had participated in a close-door meeting on Tuesday with Somnath Chatterjee (CPM), Indrajit Gupta(CPI), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Laloo Prasad Yadav and Prem Gupta (RJD) and others for floor coordination to vote out the BJP.Laloo had claimed at the meet that he would enlist the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party at any cost. And claimed that at least three MPs of the Akali Dal led by Prem Singh Chandumajra had also sent in a word to oppose the BJP on the issue. A section of the Biju Janata Dal was in touch with the Orissa Chief Minister in Bhubneshwar and some party functionaries in Delhi.If 6 MPs of the Congress coupled with 5 of the BSP, 3 of the Akali Dal and a section of the BJD had voted against the motion, the result would have been different, the last minute support of the TDP to the BJP notwithstanding.But Sonia left no scope for anybody to destablise the government. Initially, she told Sharad Pawar not to even issue the whip. But decision was reversed as it would have sent awrong signal. But she herself ensured the absence of 6 party MPs and did not encourage any like-minded party either in the BJP coalition or in the Opposition to vote out the government.
