NEW DELHI, July 7: Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral has succeeded in persuading Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to defer the July 8 steering committee meeting of the United Front. The meeting will now be held on July 17-18.

It was also decided that the steering committee would discuss the issue of selecting the candidate for the post of Vice-President instead of pondering over the entry of Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the UF.

Although former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav insisted on holding the meet, Naidu, in his capacity as convenor of the steering committee, decided against it. He is reported to have argued that as no decision was required on the oil price hike, there was no issue pending before the committee.

Naidu will be attending the Inter-State Council's steering committee meet in the Capital tomorrow. He will also hold a separate meeting with Gujral to finalise the prime minister's two-day tour to Andhra Pradesh on July 15-16.However, it is felt that the UF would have to hold a meeting to decide on the candidate for the post of Vice-President as K R Narayanan's elevation would become a certainty by July 16.

The Left parties are keen to tame Congress president Sitaram Kesri on the issue of selecting the Vice-Presidential candidate rather than focussing on Laloo. The Congress succeeded in establishing its supremacy in the selection of candidate for the post of President.

Some of the UF partners are not very keen on agreeing upon a person associated with the Congress. They want to force the Congress to support a non-Congress candidate. The regional parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), are not opposed to supporting Akali Dal nominee S S Barnala.Though Left parties and Dal leaders have been strongly voicing their demand for Laloo's resignation, it is argued that their demand is premature. Technically, neither has Laloo Yadav been charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as yet nor has the court admitted it on merit.

Since Laloo has been saying that the CBI was biased in filing the charge-sheet against him in the fodder scam, it is felt that UF leaders should wait at least till a decision is taken by the trial court on the issue of its admissibility. This should be the criterion for Laloo's resignation.

The Left parties were unable to take a decision on their next course of action in the absence of Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.