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B S NAGARAJ
NEW DELHI, Feb 22: Leaders of the constituents of the ``third force'' are happy with the Congress decision to oppose imposition of President's rule in Bihar but are not prepared to hazard any guesses about what it means for their relationship with that party.
The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha, which met President K R Narayanan to protest against Central rule, was predictably ecstatic about the Congress' decision. Its leaders Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav voiced the hope that the Congress would support secular forces in their fight against communalism.
Though most third force leaders welcomed the resolution by the Congress of its dilemma as a ``positive development,'' they refrained themselves from being categorical on the possibility of that party and the third force getting together again to force the Vajpayee Government out of office in case it does not step down on its own.
The general feeling among them is that the Congress' decision fits in with that party's political strategy and notnecessarily have much to do with the persistent pressure from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and the Left parties to break its silence on the Bihar issue.
Laloo himself preferred to remain non-committal on the question of an understanding with the Congress to pull down the Vajpayee Government. But he did say that he would meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi whom he described as ``desh ki neta.''
``We will have to discuss the implications of the development among ourselves first,'' said a Left leader.
``But it surely means a loss of political and moral authority for the Prime Minister if his government is not able to get the imposition of President's rule ratified by Parliament,'' said D Raja of the CPI.
However, there is quiet optimism in the third force that the development will definitely rewrite the contours of the current political landscape. There is a lot of interest about how some of the BJP's allies will react to the Congress' move. For instance, the Shiromani Akali Dal has declared thatit will not support the Vajpayee Government on the Bihar issue. Another enemy of Article 356, the Telugu Desam Party, has been quite restive for some time now and has been looking for a good enough reason for it to withdraw its outside support to the government.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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