PM talks to Khurana, crisis blows over

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 1. The Madan Lal Khurana crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party has blown over. The party, which removed him from the post of vice- president on Friday evening, has now decided not to take any further action against him after he publicly declared today that he would not raise in the Lok Sabha the three economic issues he has been talking about.

At a meeting of over an hour between the Prime Minister and the former Delhi Chief Minister last evening, Mr Khurana was persuaded not to give notice for a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the cuts in subsidies of food and fertilizers, the Sankhya Vahini project and the lifting of quantitative restrictions on the import of 1,429 items from the United States.

Apparently, it was Mr. Arun Jaitely, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, who played the good Samaritan. The Prime Minister called Mr. Khurana for a discussion and the crisis blew over. A beaming Mr. Khurana today told reporters that from the very first day all that he had been asking for was a discussion within the party, and ``yesterday, the Prime Minister assured me that the three issues raised by me would be discussed in the party.'' He then agreed to drop his plan to raise them in the Lok Sabha on the Prime Minister's advice.

Senior party leaders today ruled out the possibility of Mr. Kushabhau Thakre, party president, taking back the order removing Mr. Khurana as party vice-president. The reason was that organisational elections are on, a party president is to be elected by early June whose prerogative it will be to appoint a new team of central office-bearers.

At the same time no further action was being contemplated as the ``matter has been resolved''. It was only a storm in a tea-cup, a senior party functionary commented, while ``welcoming'' Mr. Khurana's announcement that as a ``disciplined soldier of the party'' he had decided to heed the advice of the Prime Minister. Tomorrow, the BJP parliamentary party will be chaired by the Prime Minister, as is the practice, and Mr. Khurana may be given an opportunity to raise the matter.

The party had no explanation for the Government's anxiety to prevent a debate in Parliament on decisions that parliamentary standing committees have criticised severely even though such a debate carried no risk as it would have been discussed under a rule where there is no voting. The Devendra Prasad Yadav committee on Food and Civil Supplies and the Somnath Chatterjee committee on Communications have both used strong language against cuts in subsidies and the green signal for the Sankhya Vahini project. All BJP MPs serving on these committees signed the reports.

The party tried to draw a distinction between party MPs serving on parliamentary committees criticising the government, and those such as Mr. Khurana giving vent to their personal views and apprehensions about government decisions. The party has also not been able to come up with an answer on why it was silent when a Cabinet Minister allowed his official bungalow to be used as the publisher's address for a booklet which has virtually described the Sankhya Vahini project as a security risk and a sell-out to the Americans.

UNI reports:

The party's senior vice-president, Mr. K. Jana Krishnamurthy, has welcomed Mr. Khurana's decision not to raise contentious issues in the Lok Sabha. Asked to comment on the former Delhi Chief Minister's decision, Mr. Krishnamurthy said, ``all is well that ends well''. Asked whether in the light of today's decision, the party would revoke his removal as vice-president, Mr. Krishnamurthy said it was the prerogative of Mr. Thakre.

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