Sundar.Vallinayagam@speech1.cs.cmu.edu (05/23/91)
May 23rd 1300 Hrs. GMT (0900 hrs. EDT) BBC News Hour Bulletin: Mrs. Sonia Gandhi has refused to accept the offer of the post of the president of Cong(I). She said that while she was deeply touched by the offer, the tragedy that has befallen her and her children was very great and prevents her from becoming the party president. The offer itself reflects the lack of an obvious alternative within the party and is also seen as a cynical move to garner sympathy votes. Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao seems to be best contender for the party post now. He, however, is not contesting in the present general elections as he is recovering from an operation. The theory of a suicide squad is gaining increasing credence. It is believed that a woman with the bomb strapped to her belt might have set it off as she was bowing down to touch the feet of Mr. Gandhi. She is speculated to have links with one of the Sri Lankan rebel groups. A Sri Lankan govt. spokesman has said that his govt. will offer the fullest co-operation in the assassination investigation. Julian Marshall talking to Pran Chopra, a political analyst (in Delhi) and Nick Newgent (sp ?) in the studio: PC felt that the offer of the party post to Sonia was a rather crude attempt to get sympathy votes. There still seems to be serious differences among senior party leaders about the final choice for the president. They do not want to delay the decision as it might further damage the party's image. Even this offer of the post to Sonia has believed to have caused the party some damage. PC also suggested that if no consensus is reached the party might offer Sonia the post once again in a fit of desperation. The BJP is bound to get max. political mileage out of this offer to Sonia, saying that the Cong(I) has not the least interest in the nation, as evidenced by its offering to choose an Italian born Roman Catholic as party president. Mr. Chandrasekhar has come out with increased stature due to his handling of the country in the past four months in general, and the last two days in particular. But his lack of any real party base will not gain him any electoral advantage. The president, Mr. Venkataraman, is consulting various party leaders to explore the possibility of a National Government, which he suggested before when Mr. V.P. Singh resigned. Ramli. (ramli@orca.ele.uri.edu)