Sundar.Vallinayagam@speech1.cs.cmu.edu (05/24/91)
May 24 1300 Hrs. GMT BBC News Hour Bulletin: The Cong(I) wants to elect a new leader as soon as possible. They are now meeting at the house of Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, after attending the funeral of Rajiv Gandhi. PVN is said to be reluctant to accept the post of party president. Some senior leaders will be requesting Sonia Gandhi again to accept the post. These are mainly leaders without much political base, who feel they cannot survive if someone other than a person from the Nehru family heads the Congress party. Chandhan Mitra, political analyst in Delhi, says that the present meeting at PVN's house is to decide on a consensus candidate to lead the party if Ms. Sonia Gandhi refuses the offer once again. Some people feel that she is determined not to enter into politics, as she does not want to expose her children to the same dangers that her late husband faced. Even if she betrays a slight sense of wavering, some Cong(I) leaders are expected to capitalise on it and persuade her to change her mind, as a desperate move to find an acceptable leader and also to cash in on sympathy votes. N.D. Tewari is a likely choice in the event that Narasimha Rao refuses to lead the Cong(I). Arjun Singh is another person with considerable clout. Many feel that there might be a serious split in the party. The election commission turned down the request of some Congress leaders to advance the remaining two days of polling. Right now, they are to be held on June 12th and 15th. Exploitation of sympathy votes while the memory of Rajiv's death is still fresh in the minds of the voters seems to be the motive behind this request. Earlier, Rajiv Gandhi's body was cremated in a solemn ceremony, attended by dignitaries from over 40 countries. Dan Quayle, Ms. Bhutto and Prince Charles were among those who attended the funeral. The six mile journey took more than 4 hrs. and was attended by a large number of people, much more than the number of people who attended Mrs. Indira Gandhi's funeral seven years ago. In World Business Report yesterday, it was mentioned that India is walking a financial tightrope. The postponement of the elections means that the IMF loan will be delayed. The IMF does not usually approve any loan unless there is an elected stable govt. India's cash reserves are fast running out and it won't be until Sept. (at the earliest; it could well be later) that the IMF loan will be approved.