The AICC announced yesterday that Pramod Tewari continued to be the state legislature party leader. Agarwal, who had been elected by 21 MLAs on Tuesday, defied that decision, telling reporters in Lucknow that he was elected by two-thirds of the MLAs and was the leader.
The central leaders had been in a panic over the previous 24 hours, as party chief Sitaram Kesari sought desperately to make the best of a bad bargain. He initially did not want to allow a split and was willing on Tuesday evening to give Prasada a long rope.
He asked Prasada to direct the rebels to fall in line. And he told reporters yesterday they should not speculate about Prasadas involvement in the revolt. Prasada said the matter would settle down by evening, but it did not. There is no question of my resignation from the post, Agarwal said.
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The rebels employed a clever tack, giving Prasada a leeway to bargain with the party bosses. Agarwal said: I have requested the UPCC president that central observers should be sent and yet another meeting of the CLP should decide the issue, if I have to be removed.By yesterday, Prasada was already under pressure in the capital. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the general secretary in charge of the state, had forced a tough stand during meetings on Tuesday night.
Leaders like Sharad Pawar and K Karunakaran had clashed with Prasada at a meeting of senior leaders on Tuesday evening. Prasada insisted that the party must demand that the Centre recall Bhandari before agreeing to defeat the BJPs motion asking for the recall, which is due for debate today. Nawal Kishore Sharma supported him but almost all the other leaders hotly argued that the Congress could not bring down the Gowda government over Bhandari.
Prasada stuck to his guns. Other party leaders said they were sure the rebellion in Lucknow was enacted at his behest and was meant to give him the leverage he needed to force the party to accept his point.
At the end of Tuesdays meeting, Kesari nominated Prasada to accompany Pranab Mukherjee and Santosh Mohan Deb to talk with the Prime Minister yesterday about what the government intended to do about Bhandari, before the party decided its strategy. Kesaris critics called that pusillanimity.
His caution could owe to Prasadas control over the state that elects 900 PCC and 127 AICC delegates, all of whom are in the electoral college that elects the Congress President. Kesari could be challenged for the post in the election that is due in May. After Azad forced a tougher stand, though, Pawar accompanied Mukherjee to meet Gowda instead.
They presented both views in the party, a senior UF leader indicated.