NEW DELHI, May 25: Activity in the Congress and Opposition ranks went up swiftly tonight, a couple of days before the crucial Budget session of Parliament, with party leaders first being summoned for a sudden and informal CWC meeting and later converging at Sharad Pawar's house for a dinner with leaders from other parties.The informal CWC meeting took over an hour and around 10 members were present for a discussion on what to do in the long Parliament session where potentially, any development could take place. The party discussed at length what stand to take on the first two days when the recent nuclear tests are to be debated. And how to deal with the later presentations of the Railway and General Budgets.
In the end, the Congress appears to have veered round to what one CWC member called a ``sober approach'' in which the party will yet again hail the scientists and engineers for the Pokharan success and link it to the efforts of the Congress since the 70s. It was also decided to give former UnionMinister Natwar Singh the task of speaking on the subject on the party's behalf. The final list is however likely to be finalised tomorrow after the CPP general body meeting.
The apparent inactivity of recent weeks has thus ended in the Congress and party president Sonia Gandhi is slated to brief the CPP general body tomorrow on what line to take in both Houses of Parliament. Among those present in the informal CWC meeting, presided over by Sonia, were Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar, Manmohan Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, S.K. Shinde, Tariq Anwar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Pranab Mukherjee, R.K. Dhawan and Oscar Fernandes.
The basic thrust seems to be to go soft on the nuclear tests but reserve some grilling on matters like weaponisation, threat perception etc. The Congress is keen to reserve its attack on issues like the Jaipur gangrape of a woman, price rise and the killing of the APCC president's father, all issues which are to be taken up before the Budget is presented.
Soon after the CWC meeting, Pawar hosted adinner for leaders of other Opposition parties in a bid to thrash out a consensus approach to sensitive issues.
The Left was also represented in this pow-wow over dinner. But in their own discussions earlier in the day, Left parliamentary leaders felt the apparent change in threat perception, which led to the Pokharan tests, should be highlighted.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
