NEW DELHI: A distancing has taken place between Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar in the post Tirupati period, and this was under-scored at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee here, which pledged total support to P.V. Narasimha Rao.

It was Pawar who set the ball rolling at the meeting by saying that it was time the party exhibited its unity and solidarity. He told the Prime Minister that he and others were all behind him and were prepared to do anything Narasimha Rao wanted them to. This included resigning from the CWC on an issue over which Rao had expressed his anguish.

Pawar, who had joined hands with Arjun Singh at Tirupati to maximize their gains in the elections to the CWC, suggested a joint resolution by all members of the CWC pledging their total “loyalty, support and cooperation” to Narasimha Rao,

All the CWC members followed suit and expressed sentiments in similar view. A.K. Antony, who is among the five who did not resign, explained at the meeting that he had left for Kerala a day after the Tirupati session and was not here when the resignations took place. He did not resign afterwards lest it appear an afterthought. Rajesh Pilot, another of the five who has held out, argued that the resignations should have been submitted by all the 10 together after consultations instead of doing it in dribs and drabs, In an amendment to the resolution, Pilot suggested that the CWC members should not only pledge their loyalty to Rao jointly but also individually.

Pawars initiative was crucial to the direction the meeting took subsequently. Significantly, the CWC meeting had been postponed twice, because Pawar was not in town. The Maharashtra leader who had left to attend A.G. Kulkarni is funeral in Pune returned to the capital especially for the meeting and left soon after it for Pune again.

“There is complete understanding between Mr Pawar and the Prime Minister,” said a senior cabinet Minister. Pawar had a meeting with Mr Rao before leaving for Pune.

Cracks had appeared in the Arjun Sharad alliance soon after the CWC election. Pawars supporters have openly been talking about their leader having been ditched by Arjun Singh. The Madhya Pradesh strongman, they allege told his supporters not to vote for Pawar to ensure that his tally was higher.

The resolution ended the statement in the party over the question of CWC resignations. An uneasy situation had prevailed in the Congress with five members having tendered their resignations and the other five holding out and the party was losing out on the gains it had made by opting for an election to the CWC.

The resolution underlined the supremacy of Rao in the party which resignations by all the CWC members would have done had they been forthcoming, though the Congress president was not expected to accept them. But not everyone resigned despite the Prime Ministers stated unhappiness with the election results.

With Pawars initiative, Arjun Singh, who demonstrated his ability at Tirupati to piece together a nationwide network of those disenchanted with the high command, has for the moment beaten a tactical retreat.

Interestingly, it was Arjun Singh who is understood to have drafted the resolution at the meeting. He spoke up for his supporter Jagannath Mishra by strongly raising the boycott of the Bihar PCC meet recently by the Kesri group. The Prime Minister promised to set up a Committee to sort out the matter. The post Tirupati scenario has seen the HRD Minister assert his position by resisting the resignation move. Though the resolution authorized Rao to “take whatever steps he deems fit to accommodate SC/ST/ Women in the elected component of the CWC and to complete the formation of the CWC,” Rao can do this only by accepting the resignations of a couple of members, he cannot dismiss the five who have not resigned. Though they have empowered him to seek their resignations if he wants, this is not something the Congress President is likely to do, Rao has maintained all along that he was not seeking any ones resignation but the CWC members had quit of their own volition in view of the non-representation the weaker sections in the CWC poll.

According to party sources, Rao may accept the resignations of Jitendra Prasada, his political side, and possibly Balram Jakhar, Agriculture Minister, to enable a schedule caste leader and a woman to be “elected” to the CWC. He may nominate these two leaders to the CWC.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 15, 1992