NEW DELHI: Stalemate in Punjab continues as the Congress high command has not yet announced the expected political package to resolve the fortnight long crisis. Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar called on the former External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee soon after his arrival from Chandigarh July 1. He is likely to call on the Congress president P. V. Narasimha Rao soon. The nature of discussing was not immediately known.

However, the dissidents kept up the pressure to demand the removal of Brar. This alone, they said, will pave the way for a political solution. The dissidents, who assembled at the residence of Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur and a contender for the post of the Chief Minister, discussed their next move in the event of high command not conceding their demand.

Brar intends to return to Chandigarh to participate in the Chief Minister’s Conference. The Chief Minister has told his supporters that there was no question of his being removed. The main concern of the party high command is to strengthen the party organization so that it could gear up to face the Assembly elections in February next year. Another difficulty of the high command is finding a successor of Brar who can take the party along with him. The change in leadership in Punjab will also send a wrong signal, particularly at a time when the talks for alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party during the Assembly elections are going on. The leaders of the Left parties are also favorably inclined towards Brar. Therefore, Brar is being advised to take steps to assuage the hurt feelings of the party leaders. According to reports, Brar had a meeting with the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Virendra Kataria recently and made peace with him.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 3, 1996