Loyality takes its own course.

NEW DELHI, May 7: Rattled by threats to his chances of becoming unopposed president of the Congress, Sitaram Kesri today invoked an age-old party rule to prevent A R Antulay, Jagannath Mishra and other disgruntled leaders from speaking out their mind before the general body of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

Kesri ensured that the meeting lasted just ten minutes, denying his detractors the chance to question his recent acts and handling of organisational affairs.

Antulay, who has had Kesri loyalists gunning for him ever since he revealed his plans to contest for the top job in the party, wanted to speak on ``anomalies'' in the CPP constitution. He also wanted Kesri to explain why he pulled down the Deve Gowda Government and then chose to withdraw the Congress claim to power.

But Antulay was told to sit back quietly since convention permitted only the CPP leader to address the general body at the beginning of a session. The fact that the meeting today denoted not the start, but only the resumption, of the Budget session was conveniently given the go-by as Kesri loyalists went about their task of muzzling all dissent within. After Kesri's 10-minute address, CPP secretary Mrutunjay Nayak was told to propose the vote of thanks and wind up the proceedings.

The howls of protest Rao loyalists Jagannath Mishra and S S Ahluwalia were among those who wanted to speak went unheard as the meeting broke up. Kesri later sent for Antulay for ``a free and frank discussion'' but by then, the man seemed quite cut-up.

Antulay apparently told Kesri he had nothing to say to him after being denied a chance to speak before the rest. He also reminded Kesri that he was just a provisional and not a full-fledged, elected president of the party.

When his comments were sought later, Antulay said he did not want to speak on what had happened. ``But there is certainly a big question mark on whether the organisational elections will be conducted in a safe and impartial manner, whether democracy in the party will remain safe,'' he said.

Jagannath Mishra too was sore with Kesri for not letting him speak. ``I wanted to suggest that a five-member committee, comprising CWC members Sharad Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee, Rajesh Pilot, K Vijayabhaskar Reddy and A K Antony, be created to monitor the party polls and attend to the grievances of Congress members,'' Mishra said.

Earlier, in his address, Kesri patted the Gujral Government on its back and promised it would be stable. He said the Prime Minister and other United Front leaders were not only trying to ensure coordination but were also discussing major issues with the Congress.

Sounding quite pleased with the way Deve Gowda's successor was treating the Congress, Kesri also complimented his own MPs for remaining united during the crucial vote of confidence on April 11 which ended with the fall of the Deve Gowda Government. He said that by remaining united the party had not only gained in respectability and prestige but had also silenced the votaries of anti-Congressism.

After the meeting, party spokesman V N Gadgil said the Congress had not given up on the plan to set up a committee to coordinate with the Front in Parliament. Confessing that the committee was still to see the light of day, he refused, however, to go into details on where the problems lay.

The Congress and the Front had assured the President they would set up a 10-member Parliamentary Coordination Committee for smooth functioning of the Government.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.