NEW DELHI: The Congress (I) set at rest all speculation that it wanted to avoid elections through a patch up with the Janata Dal-S and made it clear that it was for a mid-term poll which should be held preferably between May 5 and 25.
Senior party leader Mr P V Narasimha Rao told a press conference that the party working committee had come to the decision that no other course of action would be as “fruitful and as useful’ as going before the people.
He said in a view of this firm decision of the party’s apex policy making body which has been taken after considering all pros and cons the reservations expressed by individual MPs in this regard have become ‘subsidiary matters’.
Asked to comment on the reported efforts underway for rapprochement between the Congress-I and Janata Dal-S a party general secretary Mrs Rajendra Kumari Bajpai said ‘there is no question of any patch up.’
Referring to reports of a rapprochement party spokesman Mr M J Akbar preferred to say that some non-Congress-I leaders including from the Janata Dal had met the party president Mr Rajiv Gandhi in the last few days.
‘However these meetings did not in any way interfere with the party’s resolve to face elections’ he said.
Another party general secretary Mr H K L Bhagat said Mr Gandhi would undertake first phase of election campaign from March 16 to 29 by covering nine states The states are Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Haryana Rajasthan Gujarat Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu Bihar and Orissa.
Detailing the process for selection of candidates Mr Bhagat said the central Parliamentary board would finalize the list by April 5. This will be preceded by screening of candidates by the Pradesh election committees after receiving recommendations from the district and Pradesh Congress Committees.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 15, 1991
