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RJD, NCP ready to join government

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI, MAY 21. With both the Rashtirya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) indicating their willingness to join the new Congress-led coalition government, the stage is set for the Manmohan Singh government to be sworn in tomorrow.

The government will be sworn in at 5.30 p.m., the Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman, S.M. Khan, said late tonight. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Dr. Singh at a function in the Ashok Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A communique about the swearing-in was earlier received by the Rashtrapati Bhavan from the Prime Minister-designate's office.

In another development, the Congress circulated the revised draft of the Common Minimum Programme to its allies and supporting parties, and "offered" the post of Lok Sabha Speaker to the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

In turn, the Left parties are said to have suggested that the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, be the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), with the convenership going to a non-Congress leader, a la the National Democratic Alliance pattern (Atal Bihari Vajpayee, chairman; George Fernandes, convener).

The Prime Minister-designate, Manmohan Singh, today held a series of meetings with Ms. Gandhi, while other Congress leaders tried to mollify the allies' inflamed feelings. The allies were in touch among themselves, seeking to maximise their bargaining position vis-à-vis the Congress.

However, there were no takers for the RJD leader, Laloo Prasad Yadav's proposal for a "morcha" within the UPA.

It is understood that the Congress remains firm in its preference to keep the "Big Four" — finance, home, defence and external affairs ministries — to itself; the only exception that can be made is in the case of the NCP leader, Sharad Pawar.

Two senior leaders, Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel, met Mr. Pawar today to discuss the principles of power sharing. The Pattali Makkal Katchi president, Ramadoss, also had a meeting with Ms. Gandhi.

The RJD's turnaround came at the end of a hectic day of meetings between Mr. Yadav and senior Congress leaders.

In contrast to his outburst on Thursday, a mellowed Mr. Yadav told newsmen today that he was not interested in becoming the deputy prime minister or the home minister. What mattered to him was a `special package' for Bihar.

While Mr. Pawar, who held a lengthy closed-door meeting with senior Congress leaders Arjun Singh, R.K. Dhawan and Kapil Sibal, refused to divulge what transpired at the meeting, Mr. Yadav indicated that he was satisfied with the discussions. "We have discussed and sorted out everything. I am happy," Mr. Yadav said after emerging from his meeting with Arjun Singh and Mr. Dhawan.

Senior RJD sources indicated that Mr. Yadav's return to Patna in a huff on Thursday evening was a reaction to certain remarks made by a Congress Working Committee member from Madhya Pradesh about his (Mr. Yadav) being made a Minister on account of the cases pending against him.

However, following the Congress leadership's intervention, Mr. Yadav today appeared mollified and blamed the media for the resultant speculation. "There never was a problem. It is all a figment of the media's imagination," he said.

The RJD chief told the media that he had submitted his suggestions to Ms. Gandhi and Dr. Singh and would wait for their reaction. Mr. Yadav said that it was the responsibility of all the supporting parties to ensure that the government ran smoothly. He also gently reminded the Congress that it would need the cooperation and support of all the supporting parties in running the government and urged it to ensure that all the supporting parties got their due.

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