CHANDIGARH: The crisis in the Punjab Congress Legislative Party (CLP) took an interesting tum when 54 MLAs of the ruling party known to be loyal to the Chief Minister, Mr. Harcharan Singh Brar, left for Delhi July 16th. Mr. Brar and the state Finance Minister, Dr. Kewal Krishan is already in Delhi to discuss the matter with Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, who has been appointed by the party high command to solve crisis in the party.

A spokesman of the loyalist group claimed that the Youth Congress chief, who is also a Cabinet Minister in the Brar government Mr. Maninderjit Singh Bitta, would join them in Delhi, when the group along with the Chief Minister, meets Mr, Mukherjee for a possible headcount. The spokesman said that claim of the dissidents led by former Union Minister, Mr. Buta Singh, that their (dissidents) group had 44 members had to be refuted and the party high command had to be enlightened about the real picture in the state. The loyalist left Chandigarh at 7 pm in convoy which included a luxury bus and several cars is expected to meet Mr. Mukherjee at 11 am in the Kapurthala House. Earlier in the afternoon, the Brar loyalist group of the CLP held a meeting at the residence of the Chief Minister. It’s believed the group got a message from Mr. Brar in Delhi asking them come to the national capital for a possible head count. However, the spokesman of the loyalists said that they had met on their own and the decision to go to Delhi that evening was their own and not at any body’s instance. “We ‘are going to Delhi to show our confidence in Mr. Brar and bring back our brothers who have been misguided and have been camping in Delhi for the last one month,” another MLA quipped while boarding the bus. The spokesman said that some of the dissidents, who were disillusioned, are also expected to join the Brar camp during the meeting with Mr. Mukherjee. “Their (dissidents) claim of having support of 44 MLAs would be exposed,” he said. In a house of 117 the Congress party in Punjab has strength of 81 members of which Brar claims support of 54. Some dissidents including a few ministers have for the last month been demanding of the high command to remove Mr. Brar as Chief Minister as they hold him responsible for the party’s debacle in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The loyalist group of Mr. Brar had met, informally, here on Sunday to chalk out their strategies.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 17, 1996