PM to clarify on joint statement today

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will break his silence on the controversial Indo-Pakistan joint statement in Parliament on Wednesday. There are two issues which have kicked up a row in India, the de-linking of terror from composite dialogue and the Baloch howler. The prime minister has been under fire not just from the Opposition but also from within the party on the issue. It is expected to trigger heat in the House with the NDA baring its fangs. To control the damage the Congress will be fielding its best speakers to defend the prime minister from the Opposition onslaught. In another strategic move, the time slot for the debate has been kept short to deny the Opposition much time to grill Singh. To further reduce the ordeal for the prime minister, Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna will reply to the debate and the he will only make a key intervention. Singh is likely to make a strong case for what he signed in Sharm el-Sheikh and will give reasons why Balochistan was put in the joint statement and why he de-hyphenated terror from talks.

Congress backs PM on Indo-Pak joint statemen

After over a week of diffidence, the Congress on Monday came out openly backing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the controversial Indo-Pak joint statement in Egypt that has come under a lot of criticism.

"The Congress is confident that when the Prime Minister speaks in Parliament on July 29, he will set at rest all the questions, all apprehensions and speculation relating to the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt," AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.

A senior Congress leader had indicated on Saturday that it will back Singh on the issue clearing reported doubts over the party's attitude towards the government on the matter.

His remarks were significant as they came a day after a crucial meeting of the Congress Core Group attended among others by Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the backdrop of reported murmurs in the party on the joint statement.

The party was seen as shy of openly backing the government in the context of inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement which also delinked terrorism from the Composite Dialogue Process.

The Congress leader's statement had also come close on the heels of the Prime Minister dismissing as "media creation" the reports of differences between party and the government over the issue of the joint statement.

The Prime Minister is set to spell out the government's stand in Parliament on July 29.

Cong's bid to regain lost ground over Egypt statement

AFP image

The top leadership of the Congress is now all set to counter the opposition onslaught against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's diplomatic initiative on Pakistan. It has decided to fully back him on the Egypt statement. In a late night meeting that lasted more than two hours, the controversial Indo-Pak statement was discussed threadbare by the top leaders of the Congress. However, there was no official word on what happened at the meeting. NDTV has learnt that the Congress top leaders have thrashed out a strategy to retrieve lost political ground. Sources have said that the Prime Minister will assure Parliament next week that there is no question of the government going soft on terror. The Prime Minister will also assure Parliament that India's national interest will not be compromised. As per the sources, the Prime Minister will tell Parliament that the joint statement does not go soft on Pakistan acting against the perpetrators of 26/11, and that Pakistan will have to show concrete results and just words will no longer do. On the thorny issue of Balochistan, sources say the Congress top leaders have decided to stick to the stand that its mention in the joint statement does not in any way signal India's guilt in supporting terror in Balochistan, and that Pakistan has merely reflected its concern in the statement