BATHINDA: The senior Congress leader, N.D. Tiwari, said it was the time to resurrect the party and opt for collective leadership to make it more responsive and democratic.
Addressing a news conference here, he said the Congress was not a dictatorial party and the collective leader- ship was the need of the hour. He rebutted the charge that his intention was to split the party and said those who were advocating disunity were working for the party split.
He said he had not withdrawn his resignation while accepting the clarification from the Punjab Chief Mini ter, Beant Singh, about the demand to take disciplinary action against him when some media-persons stressed that Beant Singh had made the statement in their presence, Tiwari said he would trust Beant Singh.
He said bigger issues were involved in his resignation which would have to be addressed to by the party leader- ship. These issues related to the future of the country. The basic issue was the shape of the country in the 21st century. He said it was the time for introspection.
He said he was voicing the opinion of the lakhs of people reflected through rallies who favor a total change. He said the policy of liberalization had been implemented the most in Andhra Pradesh Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra and the Congress had lost in all these states. The party must go into the causes of this debacle, he added.
Later addressing an impressive rally on the martyrdom day organized by the dissident party MP, Jagmeet Singh Brar, Tiwari asked the Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, to end the politics of expulsions and start a meaningful dialogue on the issues raised by him and Arjun Singh to save the party. He said he had no inhibition in saying
that person sitting on the steering wheel of the party has lost direction. Meanwhile, in New Delhi, the Congress is awaiting the return of N.D. Tiwari to the Union capital from Bhatinda and his response to the appeals for withdrawal of his resignations from the party’s Working Committee, the party spokesman, V.N. Gadgil said. Replying to questions here, Gadgil said “the situation is fluid. There are conflicting press reports about N.D. Tiwari’s stand.”
Tiwari has stated that he has no pre- condition and at the same time he also says that his withdrawal of resignation is linked to revocation of expulsion of Arjun Singh.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 31, 1995
