Some BJP leaders are furious over the fact that Gujral lobbied for the post and succeeded. They feel that the position should have gone to a BJP nominee. Some of them even protested to the Prime Minister but Atal Behari Vajpayee told them that it was too late as he had already given his word to Gujral.

Meanwhile, Gujral continues with his efforts and has received a letter from US President Bill Clinton on the latest situation on the sub-continent. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has replied to a letter sent to him by Gujral.

In his letter, Clinton is believed to have expressed his anguish at India's decision to explode nuclear devices, though the letter is not condemnatory inits tenor. But Clinton also hoped that normal relations would soon be restored between the US and India. Gujral forwarded a copy of the note to Vajpayee today.

Gujral is believed to have told the British High Commissioner in Delhi David Gore-Booth, who delivered British Prime Minister's note to him, that the recent pronouncements of Clinton calling for a greater role by China in South Asian affairs points to a dangerous trend. The West, he told the High Commissioner, was going back to the 19th century imperialist thinking of dividing the world into areas of influence. Former US Defence Secretary William Perry had also expressed similar sentiments when he had gone to Beijing in 1995. Gujral said he had then referred to Perry's statement during his talk at the Stimson Centre in Washington DC and was told by a State Department official present that he was over-reacting. Though no longer the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister, Gujral is obviously being approached by leaders of other nations. They think thathe can influence the Government as the chairman of the standing committee.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had a one-to-one meeting with him during her stopover in New Delhi. She apparently wanted to be assured that the water treaty the two countries had signed when Deve Gowda was Prime Minister would hold, for LK Advani had led an agitation against it. She was also concerned about the future of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in the wake of the nuclear explosions by both India and Pakistan and the pressure the sanctions could put on the economy of the entire sub-continent.

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.