INDIA: INDIA'S POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES AS INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY STRUGGLES TO FORMAN ALTERNATIVE COALITION

Record ID: 500897

  • Title: INDIA: INDIA'S POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES AS INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY STRUGGLES TO FORMAN ALTERNATIVE COALITION
  • Date: 20th April 1999
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (APRIL 20, 1999) (REUTERS) SV/MCU OF SONIA GANDHI, LEADER, CONGRESS PARTY MEETING JYOTI BASU, LEADER, COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST) (4 SHOTS) SV SONIA GANDHI WALKING TOWARDS MEDIA, SAYING: "We are still talking with all the leaders to evolve consensus on the shape of the government. I cannot disclose whatever we are discussing. Chief Minister Jyoti Basu himself has said that he is not interested in becoming the Prime Minister." (ENLGISH) SV GANDHI LEAVING SLV/SV EXTERIOR OF MAURYA SHERATON HOTEL (2 SHOTS) SV (English) CONGRESS SPOKESMAN, ARJUN SINGH, SAYING: "BJP people are still saying that they have not been defeated, they can be revived. There is nothing like revival of a defeated party or government in Lok Sabha (lower house). It is constitutionally untenable." SLV OF NEWS CONFERENCE CU CHANDER SHEKHAR, FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND LEADER OF SAMAJWADI JANATA DAL SITTING MCU (Hindi) SHEKHAR SAYING: "I was against the policies pursued by BJP in last 13 months so I helped in voting them out but that does not mean that I will join hands with bigger evil to remove a smaller one." MCU REPORTERS MCU (ENGLISH) SHEKHAR SAYING: "The very action of president to ask Vajpayee government to seek vote of confidence was not justified. Now the same President says let the budget be passed unanimously. The president should have shown that much farsight, that this is a crucial issue, let the budget be passed in a day and let the government face vote of confidence after that. But I don't know what was the hurry, what was the haste." SLV MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 5th May 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1IXXS0B72S2DTY9YYAVFIOWVV
  • Story Text: India's Congress party, working to form a new government, has said it has letters of support from all parties that helped it bring down Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's coalition.However in a counterclaim Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have said they too have enough support from other parties to form the new government.
    India's political uncertainty continued on Tuesday (April 20) as India's main opposition Congress party struggled to form an alternative coalition after the defeat of the Hindu Nationalist Bhartiya Janata party (BJP) in a confidence vote on Saturday.
    Congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, said on Tuesday that discussions with other political parties were on going.
    However, later comments from inside the party indicated it had letters of support from all parties that helped it bring down Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's coalition.
    A group of regional, leftist and caste-based parties joined with Congress on Saturday to defeat Vajpayee's 13-month-old coalition by 270 votes to 269 in a parliamentary confidence motion.
    Since then, Congress has been negotiating with those parties to form a new government, but it is still not clear how close it is to putting an administration together.
    There has been no word on whether it would be a minority Congress government or a Congress-led coalition.But Congress needs outside support from opposition groups to ensure a majority in the fragmented lower house of parliament.
    But some of those parties are determined not to let Congress rule on its own.One of them, in an apparent snub to Gandhi, had hinted that it would support Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Jyoti Basu as prime minister.
    The widow of assassinated former premier Rajiv Gandhi said after a meeting with Basu on Tuesday that the chief minister of the state of West Bengal was not interested in the top job.
    Gandhi faces the herculean task of ensuring the support of a motley group whose lawmakers added up to just 270 in Saturday's confidence vote.She needs 272 for a majority.
    Two hardline leftist parties, which together have seven deputies, say they will have nothing to do with an administration led by Congress, which has never been part of a coalition.Congress ruled India for much of the nation's 51 years of independence.
    Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh criticised BJP for its reported hints that it was once again gearing up to get the desired number of deputies to form the government.
    "BJP people are still saying that they have not been defeated, they can be revived.There is noting like revival of a defeated party or government in Lok Sabha (lower house).
    It is constitutionally untenable," Singh told reporters after meeting leader of All India Anna dravida Munnetra Kazgham, Jayaram Jayalalitha, whose withdrawal of support led to the collapse of the BJP government.
    Congress' pursuit of getting numbers got a minor setback when former prime minister and leader of Samajwadi Janata Dal, Chander Shekhar said he would not support a Congress led government.
    Chander Shekhar is the lone member of his party in lower house.
    He strongly criticised President K.R.Naryanan for asking the government to prove its majority on the floor of the house before ensuring the passage of the annual budget for 1999/2000 (March-April).
    Meanwhile the ousted BJP hinted that it may once again stake claim to form the government if the Congress party fails to muster the numbers.
    If Congress does put together a viable government, India's sixth since 1996, the president of the country may demand written proof.The government would also be obliged to prove it has majority support in a confidence vote within 15 days of taking office.
    Political analysts say that if Congress failed that test, the president would probably dissolve parliament and order new elections, the country's third in as many years.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register