From Raman Swamy

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar seems to have
changed his tune after his 40-minute meeting with Congress
president Sonia Gandhi on Friday. He is now singing the praises
of the lady at 10, Janpath who has been boldly striving to
muster support to form an alternate government at the Centre.

Shekhar has gone to the extent of giving Mrs Gandhi the ultimate
compliment of having "clarity of thought and vision". Coming
from a leader who prides himself to be among the clearest
thinker in Indian politics, this is high praise indeed.

Despite the fact that Sonia appears to have failed in her bid to
form a Congress-exclusive minority government, Chandra Shekhar
is of the opinion that "she has got a definite game-plan and she
has the guts to pursue it against all odds".

The SJP leader says that during Friday's conversation with the
Congress chief, he found that "she has a definite vision and she
is moving in that direction". He adds that he was surprised to
discover that "she had a clear vision of what she wanted
to say".

Describing the meeting as "good" and "cordial", he claims that
it has led to a "better understanding of each other". He did not
hesitate to spell out the issues on which he strongly disagreed
with the Congress party's stand. But he found that she accepted
his criticism without taking offence or going on the defensive.

The former Prime Minister, whose four-month-old minority
government was pulled down by Sonia's husband Rajiv Gandhi nine
years ago, had decided not to stand on prestige or protocol but
to personally pay a visit to her residence.

This was despite the fact that in the last few days, Sonia has
been calling on her "elders and betters" -- like former Prime
Ministers Deve Gowda and Inder Gujral, as well as revered West
Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

In choosing to waive aside protocol and go to her residence,
Chandra Shekhar evidently had two motives --- to make a
political gesture and also to be free to speak his mind. Had she
called on him, he might have been contrained as the host from
saying anything critical to her about Congress policies.

An interesting aspect of the current political crisis is that of
the five living former Prime Ministers, it is Chandra Shekhar
who is playing the most active role.

While V.P.Singh had made a few telephonic calls from his sick
bed in London to appeal for secular unity, Narasimha Rao has
been lying low since his return from abroad for medical
treatment. Inder Gujral appears to be embarrassed by his
proximity to the Akali Dal on the one hand and the sharp
dissensions within the Janata Dal on the other. Deve Gowda has
been waiting in the wings in the hope of emerging as a consensus
candidate and getting another shot at being Prime Minister.

Chandra Shekhar is also said to be nursing hopes of becoming
Prime Minister again, but his bigger concern seems to be to
avoid getting sidelined in the present poliitcal scenario. Even
though he voted against the April 17 confidence vote, he is
known to be personally close to Vajpayee and has not made any
secret of his opposition to the Congress forming an alternative
government on its own.

His participation in Thursday's meeting of non-Congress parties
convened by Mulayam Singh became a matter of controversy, with
CPI(M) leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet reportedly taking
objection to his presence.

There are reports in some newspapers alleging that Shekhar had
entered into a "conspiracy", even before the confidence vote,
with leaders like George Fernandes, Ram Vilas Paswan and Amar
Singh (Mulayam Singh's right hand man) to "sabotage" any
Congress bid to capture power.

There are some who feel that he is playing a "double role". But
the Bhondsi Baba himself claims that he has been consistently
acting in the national interest.

According to him, the situation is still very confusing and it
is difficult to predict what shape things would take in the
coming few days.

But he is worried about the mess that has been created in the
last ten days. The present situation, he says, may not lead to
anarchy and chaos, but the possibility cannot be ruled out: "We
are slowly drifting towards it; that apprehension is there. If
we don't arrest the present trend, it may lead us to anarchy.
And that would be a sad day for India", says the former Prime
Minister.

His analysis of the reasons for the present crisis is that
firstly, "people sitting in important positions are indecisive.
Indecision is the greatest problem for this country. Since we
don't take quick decisions, problems become more complicated".

And secondly, "we are unable to use one another's good points.
Instead we keep harping on the negatives. This kind of attitude
is not helpful in running a parliamentary democracy. We should
try to take advantage of everybody's positive points.  There is
no way out except united, cohesive action to avert the present
crisis". END.
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