Cong to work for out-of-court deal

Cong to work for out-of-court deal
October 05, 2010 9:08:11 PM

Kumar Shakti Shekhar | New Delhi

Though it had been favouring the course of reconciliation in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue, the Congress has decided to take concrete steps towards ensuring an out-of-court settlement in the wake of the Allahabad High Court verdict.

According to sources, the Congress leadership has decided to utilise the three-month status quo period — as granted by the Allahabad High Court — to press for a reconciliation. The Congress Steering Committee, which is scheduled to meet here on Tuesday, is likely to discuss the Ayodhya verdict. However, the party’s proposed line of action and initiatives in this regard have not been ascertained yet. “The party has to decide the kind of initiatives it has to take in this direction,” a senior Congress leader said.

A day after the Allahabad High Court’s ruling, AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh had said his party favoured a negotiated settlement to the Ayodhya issue. “All right-thinking people should work for a compromise within the next three months following the Allahabad High Court verdict,” he had added. “Not only the Government, but all right-thinking people should try for a negotiated settlement. Even the Congress would try from its side,” he had said.

On Monday, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan, said, “The Congress took a strong stand that the issue should be settled by reconciliation. It is part of the judicial process which will culminate in the Supreme Court.”

Sources said that both Natarajan and Singh were echoing the decision taken at the party’s highest level after the verdict came out. More so since the senior Congress leaders felt that parties like the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) would milk the political and electoral gains in the wake of the judgement.

Senior Cong-ress leaders said the party wanted to do a balancing act at this stage. While not antagonising the majority Hindu votes, it also wanted to win back the trust of Muslims. By taking initiatives for reconciliation, the Congress would like to be seen to please both the sections, they said.

After the verdict, the party is apprehensive of a shift in its Muslim vote bank. Senior party leaders had been airing this view in private. But Singh, when asked whether the Muslims were angry with the Congress after the judgement, said, “I do not look at it politically. No one should do politics with such a sensitive issue. I do not see it in terms of political gains or losses.”

Sources said the Congress was making a last-ditch effort at reconciliation after the verdict. “It is a giving a big push to reconciliation since the party believes that it remains the first priority,” one of the leaders said.

The Ayodhya verdict is expected to be discussed by the Congress Steering Committee, which is scheduled to meet here on Tuesday. After the re-election of Sonia Gandhi on September 3 as the Congress president, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) got dissolved and its members are now part of the Steering Committee till the time a new CWC is elected.

The meeting is the first after the Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ayodhya title suits on September 30. This will also be the first meeting of the top Congress body after the CWC was converted into a steering committee following Sonia Gandhi’s re-election as party president just a month ago, party sources said.

The meeting is also expected to discuss national issues like the Kashmir situation, and finalise a date for the Congress plenary session, they added.


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