NEW DELHI, Jan 25: Rejecting the idea of outside support, the United Front (UF) wants all its constituents to join the government if it is able to form one after the elections. Janata Dal leader and Human Resource Development Minister S R Bommai told reporters yesterday that it was significant that even the CPI (M) had agreed to be in the government if the UF came to power.``In fact, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has clearly said that he would accept the offer of prime ministership,'' he said.
Asked if the rejection of outside support meant that UF would be able to form a government on its own, he replied in the affirmative. ``Any party that wants to join UF will have to be part of the government,'' he said.
Bommai defended Prime Minister I K Gujral's sharing of a public platform with the Akali Dal in Jalandhar, saying that if anybody wanted to support him, they were welcome to do so. He recalled that even the late N T Rama Rao, as National Front convenor, had supported former Prime Minister P
V Narasimha Rao's candidature in the elections.
He did not think the Akali Dal was a communal party, he said, adding that the Akali Dal had a long history and was part of the Janata Party government in the 1970s.
Asked why the government was fighting shy of revealing the names of the beneficiaries in the Bofors case, Bommai said that if it did so, the Swiss authorities would stop co-operating in the investigations. Once all the details were received, the information would be made public.
About the situation in Karnataka, he said J H Patel would win the confidence vote with an overwhelming majority and dubbed ``unethical'' the stand of the six legislators who had decided to support the Lok Shakti in the elections.
They should either remain in the Janata Dal or resign their membership of the Assembly, he said. ``We don't want to expel them from the party because doing so would help them retain their Assembly membership. We want to expose them,'' he added.y
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
