NEW DELHI: The Dissidents in the Congress Party have initiated 4 signatures Campaign to press for 8n Carly Session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) even 48 the Rao loyalists began mustering support to condemn the Moves aimed at “weakening” the leadership.

In what appeared to be the beginning of a familiar move by the Party leadership, seven Congress Members of Parliament on Feb.1 dubbed the criticism of the policies by some party leaders as a “tragic example” of individual interest “taking precedence” over “national interest as well as the interest of the Congress Party.” The statement of the seven MPs was particularly interesting for the combative tone it adopted.

The Statement said that the party workers would not “tolerate the utterances” of any party member even if he considered himself as a senior leader, “seeking to pontificate completely in the drawing room of Delhi. These leaders should be aware that they will never get the support of any Congress member in any move that seeks to create confusion under the garb of ideology with the sole purpose of camouflaging their naked personal ambition,” the Statement said.

Former Union Minister Ramchandra Rath, a Member of the Lok Sabha from Orissa, joined known dissident and fellow K.N.Sangra to demand an early AICC session a3 well as the strict adherence to the one man one post nom of the party.

Rath said that a signature campaign was On for demanding the early AICC session and urged Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao to relinquish the post of party President in keeping with the principle of one-man-one-post and also to help the party take on the communal forces effectively.

He recalled that Rao had said at the Tirupati session of the party that his taking over the party president ship was a “temporary” arrangement.

The credibility of the party in the aftermath of the Ayodhya developments had been damaged, and Rao had failed in discharging his responsibility both as the Prime Minister and the party president. Rath said Rao should show “magnanimity” and relinquish the Party post.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 5, 1993