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A `hurt' PM offers to quit -- Opposition calls it pure drama

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 31

THE fallout of the US-64 saga has acquired a new dimension with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today throwing his own ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents off-balance, with his dramatic offer to resign. This comes just a d ay after a Member of Parliament from the Shiv Sena, a prominent alliance partner, pointed a finger at the alleged involvement of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in influencing investment decisions of the Unit Trust of India (UTI).

The drama took place this morning at the BJP's Parliamentary Party meeting, when half way through the meet, Mr Vajpayee abruptly offered to quit on grounds of the NDA's apparent ``inability to function in a coherent and disciplined manner''.

Senior BJP leaders said that although Mr Vajpayee did not even make any mention of the word UTI at the meeting, his tone clearly conveyed a sense of hurt at the allegations levelled from within the NDA ranks against his establishment. A senior Cabinet Mi nister later said that Mr Vajpayee was hurt by ``some other issue'' and his offer to quit had nothing to do with the UTI fiasco.

Adding to the mystery was an official release issued around lunch time by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, confirming the Prime Minister's offer to quit office. This came even as senior BJP members themselves tried to downplay the m ove by maintaining that it was strictly a ``party affair''.

But the whole drama and confusion provided sufficient provocation for the Opposition to stall the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha's scheduled reply to the debate on the UTI fiasco in the Rajya Sabha.

While senior BJP leaders tried to assuage Mr Vajpayee and major allies of the NDA such as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) voiced their support for the Prime Minister, the principal Opposition parties -- the Congress (I) and the CPI(M) -- refused to be taken in by what they described as a pure drama.

According to the Congress (I) spokesperson, Mr Jaipal Reddy, the resignation drama was just a ploy to divert the issue of the Government's culpability in the UTI issue. The CPI(M) was also scathing in its attack with its leader Mr Somnath Chaterjee sayin g that Mr Vajpayee was trying to stifle the growing criticism of the Government on the UTI issue with empty threats of resigning.

``It seems the Prime Minister wants to create pressure to stop the NDA members from raising the UTI issue. He wants to invoke the threat of polls, which the allies do not obviously want at this stage,'' Mr Chaterjee said.

The point made by these parties was that the offer to resign by the Prime Minister was not an issue which could just be dismissed as an internal matter by the BJP. ``After all he is the Prime Minister and he should come to both Houses of Parliament and m ake a statement,'' leaders of both the Congress (I) and the CPI(M) said.

The NDA is set to convene a meeting on Wednesday to sort out the confusion resulting from today's dramatic happenings.