POTO: Sonia's polite 'no' to PM

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, NOV. 17. A last-minute bid by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, failed to dissuade the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, from opposing the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO).

Sources said that on Friday, ahead of the crucial meeting of the Congress top brass, Ms. Gandhi was approached for a meeting with the Prime Minister on the issue.

While she agreed to the meeting, she made sure that it did not come in the way of her party's stand on the ordinance.

After a three-hour parley involving the Chief Ministers of the States where the party is ruling and other senior party leaders, the party decided to oppose the legislation.

Ms. Gandhi, accompanied by the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had an hour-long meeting today with Mr. Vajpayee.

The Union Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitely, was the only other representative from the Government side. The meeting appeared to have done little to persuade Ms. Gandhi to change her mind.

According to a senior Congress leader, she politely told the Prime Minister that she could make no commitment and advised him to involve all the Opposition parties in the consultation process and to begin the exercise again.

She made it clear that the manner in which the Government had promulgated the ordinance was like presenting a fait accompli, which the Congress was not prepared to accept.

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