All-party meet fails to break deadlock

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 8. After a nearly two-hour heated discussion among party leaders at a meeting called by the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C.Balayogi, this afternoon, there was no resolution in sight of the deadlock that has paralysed Parliament for five days. Party leaders will meet again in his chamber on Monday an hour before Parliament convenes.

The earlier issue of a discussion demanding resignations of the three Ministers chargesheeted in the Babri demolition case was partly overtaken by the fresh controversy over the Prime Minister's remarks on the Ram temple.

The new twist helped to virtually isolate the Bharatiya Janata Party, with even its allies and supporting parties strongly disapproving the Prime Minister's remarks.

The plan, earlier, was for the Prime Minister also to attend the meeting to find a way out, but this morning the Speaker reportedly advised him not to attend, sensing that the attack would be on his statements. Since the Prime Minister did not attend, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Congress president, who was to have come, also stayed away.

At the meeting, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, offered the opposition a discussion on any subject - including the demand for the resignations of the three Ministers or the Prime Minister's statements on Ayodhya - under any rule provided that it was under a proper and appropriate rule of procedure.

The Government's position was that the Opposition should give proper notice and convince the Speaker whose decision all should accept. Mr. Mahajan wanted the Opposition to agree before hand to accept the Speaker's decision.

He wanted to know why the Opposition, which raised the issue of the resignations because the Prime Minister recently accepted the resignation of Mr. Harin Pathak, chargesheeted in a case, did so only on December 4 and not on the opening day of Parliament since Mr. Pathak's resignation had been accepted before the start of the winter session.

The Opposition was not being logical as the Ministers had been functioning in their positions since 1998, he felt.

The Congress, the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and even the NDA allies seemed to be in favour of a discussion under a substantive motion like Rule 184, and are expected to press for this.

Although the allies were not with the Opposition on the resignation issue earlier, it was clear that the Prime Minister's statement that the temple could be built on the disputed site agitated them considerably. The allies charged that the Prime Minister's statement had communalised the atmosphere and amends must be made to ``correct this'' and they are looking for an opportunity to make clear their views on the sensitive Ayodhya subject in Parliament.

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