Congress may not boycott tea party

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 10. The Congress is unlikely to boycott the high- tea hosted by the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, in honour of the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The view is in favour of attending the party, despite the possibility of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference representatives being present.

An influential section in the party believes that too much is being made of whether the Hurriyat leaders attend the party or not. ``I think we are erring by making such an issue out of this, how can we decide who they want to invite for the party or not,'' says Mr. Natwar Singh, CWC member and chairperson of AICC's foreign affairs department.

The Congress leaders believe that had Gen. Musharraf invited the Hurriyat leaders for consultations or a one-on-one meeting then the issue would have been different. In their view, the presence of the Hurriyat leaders in a big gathering is not enough reason to boycott the party.

The party spokesperson, Mr. Anand Sharma, said if the Pakistan High Commission announced that there would be one-on-one talks, the party would then reconsider whether to attend the party or not.

The issue of whether political parties should attend the party had come up for discussion at the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister on Monday. The Government had left the choice to the individual leaders and their parties.

The Congress leaders who have been invited for the party on July 14 are the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the CWC members Mr. Madhavrao Scindia and Mr. Natwar Singh.

A five-member party delegation led by the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, will meet the Prime Minister on July 12 for detailed consultations on the summit. The other members of the delegation are Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, Mr. Natwar singh and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.

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