No party-government rift over Pakistan, all answers July 29: PM (Lead)

Amid reports of dissent within the ruling Congress party over the India-Pakistan joint statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday stressed that there was no rift between the party and the government and assured that he would spell out "relevant answers" in parliament July 29.

"I have made a statement in parliament and parliament is again going to discuss the issue. I will clarify," Manmohan Singh told reporters here when asked about the opposition's attack on the India-Pakistan joint statement that delinked terrorism from the composite dialogue.

The statement, issued after talks between Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani at Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Meet (NAM) summit July 16, included for the first time a mention of Balochistan. It has been decried by some as a concession and capitulation to Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism.

Manmohan Singh refused to elaborate further, saying "pending a debate in parliament, it is inappropriate to answer any specific questions on the issue". All he would say was: "We have all the relevant answers."

The prime minister also dismissed the reported difference of opinion between the government and Congress party on the issue as a "media creation".

He was speaking to journalists at Rashtrapati Bhavan after the presentation of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. President Pratibha Patil presented the award to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

With an aggressive opposition, specially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), readying to take on the government next week over the alleged capitulation to Pakistan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has thrown her weight behind Manmohan Singh's Pakistan initiative.

Gandhi endorsed Manmohan Singh's diplomacy at a meeting of senior Congress leaders Friday night, party sources said here Saturday.

Her endorsement is also aimed at managing voices of dissent within the party over the contentious move that some party leaders feel has diluted India's stand on terrorism.

According to the sources, Gandhi told the party leaders that the Congress should stand united on Manmohan Singh's initiative and that she endorsed it. Several senior ministers, including former external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee who is now finance minister, are said to be upset over the joint statement seeking to delink terrorism from the composite dialogue between the two countries.

"Some ministers are particularly unhappy over the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement," said a source. But party leaders have refused to go on record in view of the sensitivity of the issue.

Friday's meeting was held at the prime minister's residence and was attended by Gandhi, Finance Minister Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, among others.

Last updated on Jul 25^th, 2009 at 18:55 pm IST--IANS