NEW DELHI: The crisis in the ruling establishment has deepened with Human Resources Development(HRD) Minister Arjun Singh making it clear that he will go for an all-out confrontation with Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao charging the latter with complicity in moves which according to him ultimately led to the Ayodhya demolition, Singh’s resignation from the White Paper Committee has been perceived as a prelude to a new phase of intense power struggle within the Congress which may see him out of the cabinet eventually, “Either way the Prime Minister is losing. If he concedes our demand, his secret parleys with the RSSBJP bosses, his Supersession of the November 27 Cabinet decision to dismiss the Uttar Pradesh Government will form part of the Government white paper. If he dismisses Singh, that will only lend credence to our charge,” a Singh lieutenant said on Feb.4. The HRD minister on his part admitted that his resignation resulted from his inability to discharge the duty for which he had been assigned. “I have requested the Prime Minister to assign someone else since I could not carry out the job,” Singh told correspondents at his residence. He argued that the resignation issue would have an impact on national politics.

During the day the senior party leaders, now arraigned against Rao, held a series of informal meetings at different places. A.R.Antulay, P.Shivshankar and R.K.Dhawan met Singh at his residence, N.D/Tiwari had a telephonic talk with him and both decided to meet late in the night. Some senior leaders had a meeting at Dhawan’s residence to chalk out the strategy for the next round. Significantly, the Congress Party did not officially react to Singh’s resignation. “I am not aware of it,” party spokesman V.N.Gadgil said when asked about the HRD minister’s resignation from the cabinet committee. He, however, agreed that Rao’s talks with various groups and individuals during the Ayodhya negotiations should be incorporated in the white paper. Making no bones about his determination to carry on the confrontation with the Prime Minister, Singh warned that the Government as well as the Congress Party ‘should learn from the Ayodhya experience, Asked for his comment on the general impression that the Government lacked resolve to fight the communal forces, Singh significantly did not deny the charge. He admitted that enough had not been done to counter the RSSBJPVHP combine. Congress circles are of the view that with his demand for incorporating the “secret deal” between Raoand the Sangh panivar, a stage of no return has reached. Ruling out the possibility of any patch up between the two, they said that Singh was in a mood to fight it out.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 12, 1993