Monday, Oct 14, 2002
Monday, Oct 14, 2002 |
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By Anita Joshua
Sonia Gandhi
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has been convened for Monday afternoon, and three senior Congressmen — Ahmad Patel, R. K. Dhawan and Satyajit Gaekwad — have been asked to attend it as observers. However, it was not clear whether the CLP would elect its leader at the meeting as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, Manmohan Singh, dodged the question. The Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ghulam Nabi Azad— who has twice postponed his return to the State over the past two days— will also attend the meeting. Briefing mediapersons after a four-and-a-half-hour-long meeting — the last of three today — Dr. Singh said all decisions pertaining to government formation would be taken after the CLP meeting.
Common agenda
About the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) — which PDP has been insisting upon — for the coalition government, he said "discussions have taken place on what elements should go into the CMP," but conceded that there were some rough spots which needed to be ironed out. The decision to ascertain the mind of the CLP was taken after a meeting between the Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi, and Mr. Sayeed late today. 
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed
It was at this meeting — during which Ms. Gandhi underlined the need for all like-minded parties in the State to work together to make the best of the "unique opportunity'' given to them by the electorate — that Mr. Sayeed insisted his party should lead the government. In the morning, Mr. Sayeed met the core group of Dr. Singh, the CWC member, Arjun Singh, Mr. Azad, and AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni — who have been advising Ms. Gandhi on the government formation — at Dr. Singh's residence. This was followed by a meeting of the core group with Ms. Gandhi at 10 Janpath. Later, in the evening, she convened an informal meeting of the CWC, which was attended by R. K. Dhawan, Ahmad Patel, Mukul Wasnik, Oscar Fernandes, Natwar Singh, Mahavir Prasad and Motilal Vora, besides the core group. While the CWC met for an hour-and-a-half, the core group remained closeted at 10 Janpath for another three hours before coming out to brief the media. Even as the Congress central leadership has decided to await the decision of the CLP on government formation, time is running out fast as a new dispensation has to be put in place by mid-week. Add to this the decision of the National Conference to join the race; particularly given the fact that a senior PDP leader had met the outgoing Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, the day after the results were out. If that was not enough to queer the pitch for the Congress, the party was at odds to explain the decision of Mr. Sayeed to meet the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, this morning. Though in the know of the meeting, Mr. Sayeed apparently did not take his potential allies into confidence as to what transpired in the meeting.
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