NEW DELHI: A senior Congress leader, Dinesh Singh, recently praised the efforts made by the Prime Minister, P.V.Narasimha Rao, in defusing the communal tension over the Ayodhya issue, while disagreeing with the view that the party should take a confrontationist stance vis-a-vis the BJP at this juncture.

Though Singh said that any difference of opinion between the prime minister and his senior colleagues must be brought to an end immediately, he left little doubt that he’s unhappy with the tone of Arjun Singh’s letter to the prime minister’s political secretary.

To talk of confrontation with any political party or group at a time when the process of conciliation is in progress would be the negation of the achievements made, Dinesh Singh said in a statement, Singh’s views constituted an obvious rebuttal of Arjun Singh’s objection about the party’s failure to combat the BJP.

On the other hand, Shyam Nand an Mishra, a former minister took up cudgels on behalf of Arjun Singh. In a statement Mishra dismissed as “unseemly” the furor over the letter and described as very legitimate” Arjun Singh’s suggestion for a meeting of party leaders and functionaries at the earliest to chalk out a proper unambiguous and activist party line.”

Mishra’s views are identical to those expressed by supporters of Singh in the party. Supporters of Singh believe that his lever has brought into focus the issues that the party should confront and try to resolve. They are convinced that the stand taken by him will help him become a rallying point for Congressmen at a later stage. However, they are heavily outnumbered at the moment and are keeping a low profile.

Party observers indicate that the supporters and opponents of Singh are likely to wait for some days till state party presidents and legislature party leaders finalize their comments on the letter. Interestingly, the party leadership has endorsed Arjun Singh’s plea that the views of party colleagues should be sought on his letter. In the meanwhile a scheduled meeting of the Congress Working Committee was put off for a few days.

The party spokesman, V.N,Gadgil, told newspersons that there was some “confusion” as a meeting of the executive of the parliamentary party was scheduled and not the CWC. He replied in the negative to a   question whether the executive had met. Gadgil said the CWC was   likely to meet some time soon.

Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 21, 1992