NEW DELHI: The Congress high command’s decision to hold the AICC session in the first week of March has not satisfied some Congressmen who feel that it should be convened before the Budget session of Parliament, beginning in the third week of February.

The session should, in fact, be held immediately so that the party and the Government can work out a strategy to meet the Opposition’ s challenge during the Budget session, some of the veteran leaders feel.

According to highly placed party sources, several senior Congressmen are critical of the manner in which the affairs of the party were being managed in the aftermath of the Ayodhya incidents. “We were of the view that the Ayodhya incidents and the recent Bombay not’s had taught two tough lessons to the Government and the party but nothing is being done by the high command to face the BJP onslaught”.

The Congress must draw up an “unambiguous line of action to meet the challenge to the country’s secular fabric from the ‘Sangh Parivar,” the sources said.

Senior Congress leader K(N.Singh feels that the AICC session should be held immediately, “If the party high command feels that it would come in for sharp criticism at the meet, there is no harm in convening a closed door session,” he says.

Singh, a former Congress general secretary, Says’ the P.V.Narasimha Rao government cannot take the Left parties support for granted. ‘The Left parties will definitely differ with the Government’s economic policies and, therefore, we must decide in advance as to how we will tackle this kind of a situation in Parliament”.

It is not that the resentment is on the party affairs alone. Some senior leaders have openly been critical of the recent Cabinet reshuffle affected by the Prime Minister.

Party sources said several Congress members from the backward classes are unhappy that the weaker sections had not been given adequate representation in the government Atleast 80 MPs from the backward classes were reported to have met senior Congress leader P.Shiv Shankar over the past few days to their grievances. Former Home Minister Buta Singh has also been meeting delegations of Congress members who are seeking induction of some ministers from the weaker sections in the government, Shiv Shankar declined to disclose the nature of his talks with the MPs. According to party sources, the Prime Minister may accommodate some more party members in the revamped organizational set up and may give some gubernatorial assignments. In the party setup, (we general secretaries and 12 joint secrecies are likely lobe inducted in the first week of the next month.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 29, 1993