NEW DELHI: The much awaited formula to solve the political crisis in Punjab could not be announced by the Congress high command last week, due to the preoccupation of party president, V, Narasimha Rao with his own crisis arising out of the Lakhu bhai Pathak case. Although Pranab Mukherjee, a former External Affairs minister, had been deputed by Rao to resolve the crisis by talking to Punjab Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar and the dissidents, the formula eluded the state leaders.
While the dissidents have dropped their demand for Brar’s removal and are willing to patch up if proportionate representation is given to them in the ministry, the Punjab Chief Minister has argued that this will neither help him tide over the crisis nor help the party in meeting the challenge of the Akalis. He told Mukherjee that he was willing to accommodate a few party legislators in his council of ministers and appoint some of them as chairman of various boards. He could also fill vacancies of four Parliamentary secretaries, but reconstituting the entire ministry and dropping MLAs on the basis of proportionate representation will send a wrong signal. It will create more dissidence in the party instead of bringing unity.
Brar was also of the view that the party could not afford to waste more time as Assembly elections are to be held within the next six months. The Akalis will certainly try to exploit the highly undisciplined behavior of the party men during the elections. Instead of allowing him to gear up to fight the Akalis and enter into crucial electoral tie-ups, the dissidents were trying to help the Akalis; they had failed to level a single charge against him. As far as the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab was concerned, an inquiry could be held to go into its causes, Brar argued.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 17, 1996
