PM offers to resign, relents later

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. Responding to the carping criticism of his regime from within the BJP and the NDA, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today plunged the Government into a veritable crisis when he first threatened to resign and then relented, but not before the party leaders literally went on their knees, requesting him to stay put.

Mr. Vajpayee virtually walked away from a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party this morning after announcing that he found himself no longer able to lead the NDA in a cohesive manner and to the satisfaction of all. The stunned gathering of BJP parliamentarians and Ministers found itself beseeching the Prime Minister not to take the precipitous step.

Having so dramatically exposed the coalition Government's vulnerabilities, Mr. Vajpayee is set to get his leadership reaffirmed by the National Democratic Alliance partners tomorrow. Even the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, felt constrained to plead publicly with the Prime Minister not to leave the stewardship of the NDA ship.

The resignation threat was Mr. Vajpayee's riposte to the recent criticism - from the BJP, the Sangh Parivar, and the NDA allies - of his Government's handling of the Agra summit, the US-64 scam, the induction of new allies into the NDA, the terrorist violence in Kashmir, the botched up Naga ceasefire, etc.

Only last week the senior RSS functionary, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, had issued an indictment of the Vajpayee Government: ``It pains us utmost to see the Government unable to protect the life of its citizens from the murderous attacks of a handful of terrorists.'' At the BJP's national executive last week, Mr. Vajpayee heard unpalatable criticism of his ministerial colleagues. Nor was he amused at the allegations made by the Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha that the Prime Minister's Office had a role in the US-64 scam.

Jaswant knew it?

Many senior ministers were convinced that the Prime Minister came to the BJP meeting with his mind made up to administer a ``resignation dose'' to the MPs. In fact, it is believed that the Minister for External Affairs, Mr. Jaswant Singh, was privy to Mr. Vajpayee's decision to put in his papers; and, Mr. Singh, in turn, had pointed out that the party would predictably prevail upon him to stay.

All that happened at the parliamentary party meeting was a somewhat mild criticism of the Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan's indifference to the requests of the BJP MPs. The charge was made by Mr. Maheshwar Singh, a member from Himachal Pradesh, who wanted to know how a Minister, belonging to a three- member party, could be so insulting to the 182-strong BJP. As if waiting for a cue, the Prime Minister sprang a surprise. He offered to step down as he was not able to make the NDA behave in a ``coherent and disciplined manner''.

Before the MPs could gather the drift of his remark, they heard him say: ``Since I am the Prime Minister, I am responsible. I cannot manage the NDA. I have grown old. I am also unwell. I should leave the chair. That is why I have decided to resign.'' The announcement produced the desired dramatic effect, with everyone wanting Mr. Vajpayee to re-consider his decision.

So baffled were the BJP parliamentary managers that they became totally unmindful of the fact that Parliament was in session. Mr. Pramod Mahajan, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Information, issued a press statement outside the two Houses. Mr. Mahajan said Mr. Vajpayee ``did express his desire to quit office'', but later ``Mr. L. K. Advani, Mr. Jaswant Singh, Dr. M. M. Joshi, and myself called on the Prime Minister and persuaded him to abandon to the proposal''.

While the news of the resignation - and its subsequent withdrawal - spread like wildfire within Parliament House, the BJP leaders pretended as if the development was a private joke between them and Mr. Vajpayee. ``There is no crisis before the Government as the entire BJP and all the NDA partners are fully behind the Prime Minister,'' asserted Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Rural Development.

But an agitated Opposition in the two Houses was unwilling to let the matter rest and sought to know the actual position. In the Rajya Sabha, the senior Congress leader, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, indignantly waved Mr. Mahajan's statement and wanted Mr. Vajpayee to come to the House to make a statement. The Opposition parties were this evening threatening to make an issue of the ``resignation'' in the days to come.

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