PLANNING THE NEXT MOVE: (From left) AIPJD leaders H.C. Mahadevappa, C.M. Ibrahim, Siddaramaiah and Vaijnath Patil at the party's National Council meeting in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: The National Council committee meeting of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD) held here on Tuesday decided to authorise the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and national president of the party C.M. Ibrahim to finalise an understanding with the Congress.

Sources in the AIPJD told The Hindu that the next round of discussions with the Congress leadership would be held in a few days. Mr. Siddaramaiah would be in Mysore on July 8 and 9 to consult his followers after which he would announce his resignation from the Legislative Assembly. Then he would call on Congress leaders in New Delhi and finalise the understanding, sources said.

Expressing solidarity

Tuesday's National Council meeting was primarily meant for party leaders to express their solidarity with the steps taken by Mr. Siddaramaiah in holding discussions with the Congress. The meeting passed a unanimous resolution authorising Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Ibrahim to conduct the final round of discussions with the Congress.

Briefing the press after the meeting, Mr. Ibrahim and other party leaders did not even mention that the AIPJD would be associating itself with the Congress. They merely said the AIPJD was holding discussions with like-minded secular parties with the aim of halting the growth of communal forces in the State and simultaneously sidelining the H.D. Deve Gowda family. "We are against communalism and family rule," Mr. Ibrahim said. The others present at the press conference were P. Kodandaramaiah, M. Raghupathy and A.K. Subbaiah.

Mr. Ibrahim said Mr. Siddaramaiah had been authorised to take a decision on whether to align with the Congress or to merge the AIPJD with the Congress. The party would abide by the decision taken by Mr. Siddaramaiah.

The senior party leaders said they were confident that they would succeed in convincing all those in the party who were in two minds over aligning with the Congress. There was only a difference in perception and this would be resolved, they said.

Asked about the opposition by some Congress leaders to his entry into the party, Mr. Ibrahim said there was no such opposition. All these matters had been discussed with the Congress leadership and there were no reservations.

Mr. Ibrahim, a former Minister in the late R. Gundu Rao Cabinet, walked out of the Congress two decades ago. The former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief is not in favour of Mr. Ibrahim joining the party.

AIPJD sources said the nine legislators supporting Mr. Siddaramaiah, including Vaijnath Patil who has been expelled from the Janata Dal (Secular), would not be joining the Congress for now. All of them attended the National Council meeting. They would act on the advice of Mr. Siddaramaiah. If they decide to join the Congress, they will have to resign from the Assembly because they were elected on the JD(S) ticket.

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