NEW DELHI: The tussle for leadership of the Congress-I Parliamentary party (CPP-I) intensified with both the party president Mr P V Narasimha Rao and the Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr Sharad Pawar indicating that they were in the race.
There are enough hints that the Madhya Pradesh Congress-I president Mr Arjun Singh may also throw his hat into the ring depending on how the leadership issue evolves over the next 48 hours
Hectic confabulations were on among senior party leaders and newly-elected MPs who started arriving in Delhi on Monday with the main contenders for leadership seeking them out individually and in groups. It is for the first time in 25 years that the parties MPs are going through the initial phase of electing their leader having been unaccustomed to the process. They are grappling with the situation to elect the leader while keeping the party fabric intact.
No compromise formula had been worked out till late on Tuesday. Mr Arjun Singh had a separate meeting with Mr Rao before the two of them formally Singh Surjit Mr Madhavrao Scindia and many other senior party leaders including Mr Jagannath Pahadia Mr Rajesh Pilot Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Kamalnath separately met Mr Rao.
Mr Pawar arrived here in the afternoon and said: If there is no unanimity on the leadership issue within the CLPP-I it should be resolved by secret ballot. He said he would judge the mood of party MPs. The party winners in the Lok Sahba elections and the Rajya Sabha MPs have been directed to reach Delhi at the earliest
Mr Rao did not deny that he is a contender. Even if you give me a billion dollars i would not tell you that he replied when asked whether he is in the race
As the party leaders made clear that they would stake claim to form the government the CPB-I reviewed the election results The board is now left with just three members Mr Rao Mr Arjun Singh and Mr K. Karunakaran. The AICC-I Treasurer Mr Sitaram Kesari who is a special invitee and the AICC-I general secretary in charge of the CPB-I Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad also attended the meeting.
Mr Azad later told ENS that as the election process was still on the CPB-I did not fix the date of the meeting of the CPI-I to elect its leader He said the board might meet on Tuesday to fix the dates and appoint observers for the meetings of state legislature parties.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 21, 1991
