BAGDOGRA: Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar has said that the Congress (1) would split if it lost the coming elections and failed to come to power.

The Congress (I) members are no used to being out of power and once they feel that they will have to be in the opposition for a long spell they will fall apart Shekhar told reporters here on Friday.

He criticised the Congress (I) for its decision to boycott the elections in Punjab and said the party’s apprehension of the Sikh militants coming to power in that troubled tom northern Indian state was “baseless”.

Shekhar said if the minorities opted for the Congress (I) in the event of the Janata Dal failing to be voted to power “they will be sadly disillusioned because the problem of communalism has been created by the Congress (I).”

He also cautioned the people against the move of some political parties to create pre-poll communal violence in different parts of the country and said that the government would firmly act to foil such attempts.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 10, 1991