NEW DELHI: Former Indian prime minister PV. Narasimha Rao, whose control Of the Congress party is under threat after 4 corruption scandal, survived an inquest into its general election defeat; Party Spokesman V.N. Gadgil told reporters that no one at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision making authority, blamed Rao personally for the defeat in elections that ended last month. “Generally, it was felt that all of us were responsible,” Gadgil said, He said polls to elect the party president had been deferred allowing Rao to keep the post until election. The election would be held at meeting Of the All India. Congress Committee (AICC) er.
Party sources said last week’s meeting could be the fast chance for Rao’s critics to pin blame for the defeat on him and make him give up one of his two posits party president and leader of Congress members of parliament. There were no calls for 74yearold Rao to relinquish either post, Gadgil said. But he acknowledged that the meeting had been inconclusive.
The general election pushed Congress out of power, but Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s minority government needs its support to survive. Deve Gowda’s United Front coalition has only 190 members in the 545member Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, while the Congress has 142 members. The party sources said the AICC meeting could see Rao relinquish his party presidency in an effort to quell a revolt.
“His (Rao’s) position is quite weak now,” a senior member of the CWC said, adding that it would be further weakened by last week’s filing by Indian federal police of a case linking Rao to alleged vote buying when he was prime minister. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had registered a report with police alleging that Rao and seven others had bribed the head of a regional party in successful efforts to head off a no confidence motion in 1993. A CBI official said the case had been filed after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court order on Tuesday directing federal police to register afresh probe into the charges, Rao has denied the allegations.
A decision by Rao to step down would have ‘serious consequences for the new government, reviving the question of Congress joining the coalition, party leaders said, Rao’s detractors say he has stood against formally joining the coalition because he is unlikely to get a senior position in the government and such a move would diminish his authority in the party. Congress sources said Rao is fighting back by mobilizing support from outside the CWC.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 26, 1996
