The Left parties yesterday flayed Prime Minister IK Gujral for the postponement of the scheduled meeting of the United Front steering committee today, and said the current political confusion could have been sorted out at the meeting.
All along we have been demanding that there should be regular consultations among various constituents of the Front to thrash out differences. If there is a confusion now because of the split in the Janata Dal, it could have been cleared at the meeting. What is the point in delaying it, one senior Left leader said.
It was at the instance of Gujral that the meeting was postponed for the fourth time yesterday. Gujral called up several Front leaders on Sunday night and told them that since the oil issue could not be taken up at this stage there was no point in having a steering committee meeting on July 8.
United Front leaders who spoke to Gujral said the Prime Minister wanted to buy time on the crisis facing the Janata Dal and wanted things to be settled down before any decision on inclusion or exclusion of Laloo Prasad Yadavs Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Front was taken.
Gujral told Front leaders that a confrontation would have taken place between former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Laloo Yadav at the meeting, and it would have been played up by the media. This would have made resolving the crisis more difficult, Gujral said.
With the steering committee out of the picture, Front leaders met informally. At a meeting at Union railway minister Ram Vilas Paswans office, it was agreed that the resignation of Laloo Yadav from the post of chief ministership would be a sine qua non for the RJDs inclusion in the Front.
The meeting was attended by Paswan, Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav, CPI general secretary AB Bardhan and CPI(M) politbureau member Sitaram Yechury.
Left leaders are trying to build up consensus against the RJDs inclusion till Laloo Yadav resigns from his post. Another round of informal discussions is likely to take place today. The four Left parties are also likely to meet today.
Left leaders said the continuation of three Union ministers, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Kanti Singh and Jainarain Nishad, in office had become untenable. They asked the Prime Minister to take action against them.
Bardhan said the three ministers had been actively campaigning for a party which was not part of the Front. Gujral should ask them to clarify their stand or seek their resignation.
The three ministers joined the Union cabinet as representatives of some party. Now they belong to a different party, which is not part of the United Front. They must clarify their stand, Bardhan said. He added that in the entire episode, the UFs commitment of maintaining probity in public life had got blurred.
