PM to make statement in Parliament

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 18. There were no surprises at the meeting of National Democratic Alliance leaders here this evening. About 20 leaders of the ruling coalition got a detailed briefing on the summit talks, they were told that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, refused to yield ground on issues of paramount national interest, and in gratitude they congratulated him for his boldness.

Briefing reporters later, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, said: ``a detailed statement on the Agra summit would be made by the Prime Minister in Parliament on the first day of the monsoon session.'' He added that all the NDA leaders ``were happy that the Prime Minister had raised India's concerns strongly, that he had not compromised, and they congratulated him''.

But party leaders did caution Mr. Vajpayee, and his senior colleagues, Mr. L.K. Advani, Home Minister, and Mr. Jaswant Singh, Minister for External Affairs and Defence, that militant and terrorist activities could be stepped up and the Government should be fully prepared to meet the challenge. The Government should take these threats seriously, they said. And in response it was Mr. Advani who was reported to have assured the coalition partners that every step that was needed would be taken.

Mr. Mahajan insisted that no party leader, not even the Shiv Sena's Mr. Suresh Prabhu, suggested that in these circumstances Mr. Vajpayee should not visit Islamabad (it had been announced that he had accepted the Pakistan President's invitation), nor did anyone express the view that perhaps Mr. Vajpayee had made a mistake in extending an invitation to the Pakistan President.

Mr. Mahajan suggested that in any case no suitable dates for a visit to Islamabad might be found in the remaining part of the year as there were the monsoon and winter sessions of Parliament, and a visit to Russia by the Prime Minister, possibly in October. ``There is also the much-delayed Japan visit for which dates have to be found.''

There was apparently no voice of dissent, and no one expressed unhappiness over the way the summit ended.

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