India / Many = What next?

[Rajkumar Subramaniam]

Divided Congress agonises over threat to topple Indian coalition (ADDS details
of delayed Congress meeting) by Tony Lawrence

Tue 25 Nov 97 - 07:02 GMT

NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (AFP) - India's deeply-divided Congress (I) party
agonised here Tuesday over whether to
topple the minority coalition government and try to force snap
polls following five days of political chaos, officials
said.

The party, which threatened last week to withdraw support if a
coalition member party was not ousted for its alleged
link with the 1991 murder of Congress premier Rajiv Gandhi, put
back a crisis meeting to discuss the affair on
Monday morning.

Officials said party leaders would now hold talks later in the day
but failed to give a reason for the delay.

If the Congress, which has kept Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's
brittle minority alliance in power for seven
months, carries out its threat, a no-confidence motion is expected
to seal the government's fate this week.

India's president will then decide whether to call for the
formation of a new coalition or fresh elections, leading to the
country's fifth government within two years.

The last polls, leading to a hung parliament, were held 18 months
ago, with the next general elections due in 2001.

Parliament was adjourned indefinitely on Monday after Congress
members made debate impossible by chanting
"Expel the DMK, save the country!" and "Long live Rajiv Gandhi!"
They forced similar adjournments on Thursday
and Friday.

Behind the scenes, however, the party appears to be badly split
over whether it should force new polls, many
members fearing that the Congress itself, wracked by recent
corruption scandals, could emerge as the biggest loser.

The political turmoil, which sent the rupee crashing to a record
low on Monday, began with the tabling in parliament
of an official report on Thursday accusing a coalition partner of
involvement in Gandhi's killing.

The report said the coalition's DMK party, based in the southern
state of Tamil Nadu, gave "tacit" support to Sri
Lankan Tamil separatists blamed for the suicide bombing which
killed Gandhi.

The Congress responded with an ultimatum demanding the ousting of
the DMK from the coalition as the price for its
continued support. The United Front, however, refused, arguing the
findings, denied by the DMK, had not yet been
debated or proved.

Kesri, in a bid to buy time as Congress divisions emerged over
whether to risk new elections, delayed for four days
by saying he could not act without an official letter from Gujral
explaining the coalition stance. That letter was finally
sent on Monday evening.

Analysts say one faction within the Congress, which was routed in
last year's elections, wants to try and exploit the
emotion surrounding Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in an election
campaign.

The faction also wants the party, which ruled India for four
decades after independence, to capitalise on the Gandhi
image, by persuading Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia to enter active
politics.

Another wing of the party, however, fears that the Congress, whose
former premier P.V. Narasimha Rao is currently
facing trial for corruption, is too unpopular to risk new polls.

The party sparked a near-replica political crisis in April by
withdrawing support from a former United Front coalition,
only to be forced into a humiliating climbdown after failing to
install a Congress-led alliance.

)AFP 1997

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"thamizh nAddil ayalavarukku enna vElai, thAvum pulikku nAy entha mUlai"
-ParathithAsan
body for tamil land, life for tamil and soul for tamil culture
udampu thamizh maNNukku, ujir thamizikku, uLLam thamizh paNpAddukku
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: (rsubrama@chat | raj@engsoc).carleton.ca
"tharAsai muthalil edai pOdu" ezhaththu kavi kasi ananthan
"The great thing is to get the true picture, whatever it is".
- Winston Churchill (during WW2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waiting for the Last journey....