New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had his party solidly behind him when Parliament debated a controversial India-Pakistan joint statement that seeks to de-link talks with terrorism.
Senior Congress leaders and MPs spiritedly defended the statement. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna insisted that the government would not ease pressure on Pakistan but it cannot avoid talks.
"We can't erase Pakistan. It's going to exist. War is no solution," said Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Thursday during the second day of debate on the Prime Minister's foreign visits, including his trip to Egypt where he met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Foreign Minister S M Krishna told Parliament that India had nothing to hide on Balochistan, which is mentioned in the statement.
This strong backing of the Prime Minister came moments after Sonia Gandhi at a crucial party meeting batted for him.
Singh had strongly defended the need for talks with Pakistan, saying that this is what even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Behari Vajpayee had advocated during his tenure as Prime Minister.
Sonia supported the initiative with Pakistan but with a word of caution. "We support the resumption of the dialogue process with Pakistan, but only after it has demonstrated its seriousness to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice," she said at a Congress parliamentary party meeting.
“No one should be in any doubt on our party's position vis-a-vis Pakistan. It remains unchanged.”
Sonia has often spoken for a bonding between the party and Government but it was disconnect over the joint statement that made her support to the Prime Minister conditional.
There was no mention of Balochistan and joint statement in her speech, reflecting the party's discomfort with these issues.
It is this discomfort in the Congress that gives the Opposition a chance to attack the Prime Minister.
BJP leader L K Advani said the Government had failed to explain the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement.
"There was no satisfactory response. There is no point in this discussion," said Advani and walked out of the Lok Sabha with BJP MPs.
