NEW DELHI: A decision on the new president of the Congress-l was put off to May 29 when the Party’s Working Committee (CWC-1) will meet to take stock Of the situation arising out of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to head the organisation.
The issue continued to hang in balance on Sunday five days after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi as senior party leaders held wider consolations to arrive at a consensus. A significant development was that at least two senior party leaders Dinesh Singh and Siddharatha Shankar Ray backed P.V.Narsimha Rao for leading the party in the pending Lok Sabha elections and the stand of these leaders as well as that of the Parliamentary Board member. Arjun Singh was indicative of the growing opinion in the organisation that the post should not be thrust on s Gandhi against her wishes.
Arjun Singh who had proposed Gandhi’s name at the meeting of the CWC-I held soon after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi said in a letter to Narasimha Rao: “Let us all now resolve the issue at the earliest”. He said: “her decision to decline the offer is totally in tune with the high sense of private and public propriety that the Nehru family has always maintained. Whatever be her final decision we must accept it respectfully.
However the postponement of the CWC-I meeting has raised doubts that the coterie around the Gandhi-Nehru family has managed it with a view to making a final attempt to convince Sonia Gandhi that she alone can hold the party together. Gandhi on her part has so far kept away from the controversy. She is avoiding meeting those wanting to discuss the issue. The coterie is counting its attempt behind the scenes to somehow tell Sonia Gandhi to please reconsider her decision and accept the president ship of the party in this hour of crisis facing the country and the Congress Party to fulfill the unfinished task of Rajiv Gandhi. One such resolution was passed by party leaders from Tamil Nadu here. They included K Ramamurthy G.K Moonpanar P Chidambaram and P.R.Kumaramangalam.
Some party members of the Rajya Sabha also held on informal get together at the residence of Ratnakar Pandey and expressed the hope that Gandhi would reconsider her decision. One suggestion at the meeting was they should resign on masse from the house to pressurize Gandhi. It was learnt that the suggestion did not get the support and was withdrawn. The ostensible reason for the postponement of the CWC-I meeting was that most of its members and other senior leaders will be pre-occupied with the program finalized in connection with the immersion of ashes of Rajiv Gandhi in main rivers of the country. There was no explanation why the meeting could not be held on Sunday or earlier. The party spokesman Pranab Mukherjee could not say whether the meeting would be attended by only CWCI members or whether it would be an extended meeting.
Members of the party’s election coordination committee met here on Sunday but did not finalise any concrete strategy about the pending Lok Sabha elections. It was felt at the meeting that the CWCI could discuss the issue in detail at its meeting three days later.
Dinesh Singh did not mention Narasimha Rao by name in his Statement or left little doubt that he was talking about him when he said “If Sonia Gandhi is not in a Position to accept the responsibility at this state the senior leader close to Rajiv is there. Acting President ship will not place under burden on his health.”
He criticized the CWC-I for having shown “undue haste” initially when it decided to “request Sonia to take over the reins of the party when the mutilated remains of her husband were still lying before her.” He said the CWC-I must – rectify the damage done by it earlier by deciding without future delay on the name of the acting president.
Siddharatha Shankar Ray president of the West Bengal PCC- I was quoted as having said in Calcutta that Rao should be immediately elected permanent president subject to confirmation by the AICC-I at a later date if Sonia Gandhi refused the post.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 31, 1991
