NEW DELHI, DEC 7: Congress president Sitaram Kesri has made it clear that while the party will decide on the prime ministerial candidate only after the general elections, he will remain the unchallenged leader of the party during the poll campaign.

``It is a traditional practice that the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meets after the polls to elect its leader. I don't see any problem at all,'' Kesri declared in an interview to a private TV channel.

Kesri maintained that the responsibility of leading the Congress in the election campaign was his.

Despite Kesri's categorical statement, there are reservations in the party towards projecting the elderly president who lacks both charisma and a mass following.

Congressmen planning to stand for elections say privately that they have no plans to put a photograph of Kesri on their posters as it would be a distinct handicap.

In Hyderabad when K Vijaybhaskar Reddy was asked who would be projected as the prime ministerial candidate, he said: ``There is no dearth of leaders in the Congress.''

Kesri refuted the argument that the Congress needed a more charismatic leader during the poll campaign.

``I may not be a great leader but I am a humble worker, and the Congress workers identify with me,'' he asserted.

NEW DELHI, DEC 7: The United Front's top leadership will meet here tomorrow to `firm up' the Front's alliances and tie-ups, especially its approach towards the Congress, for the coming parliamentary elections.

The core committee of the Front, meeting here for the first time after the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, will also discuss the possibility of having a common election manifesto.

In a related development, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan has said that the UF will not select a prime ministerial candidate before the polls as this may create problems from the very beginning.

In an interview to Home TV, to be telecast tomorrow, the veteran CPI leader said ``We will come to that question and solve it after elections. I would not like to make problems right from now by projecting any one individual'' as the prime ministerial candidate.

Meanwhile, in a significant development, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) President G K Moopanar, a constituent of the Front, met Sonia Gandhi yesterday in the context of reported strains with its alliance partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) following the Jain Commission report that led to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

The TMC leadership is under pressure from a section of the party for continuing its alliance with the DMK while another section is for snapping the ties.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.