PM may skip CHOGM summit; decision today

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in a dilemma over his visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting (CHOGM). At the Congress Core Group meeting on Friday, where he will take the call on his visit, two of the members are against his attending the meeting.

Union Defence Minister A K Antony and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram are opposed to his attending the meeting, while the other two, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser Ahmed Patel, are neutral. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, herself, is disinclined for the visit, owing to the pressure from the DMK, though she is unlikely to thrust her views on the Prime Minister.

Interestingly, the Union Cabinet is divided on the visit of the Prime Minister to Sri Lanka, with those opposing his attending the CHOGM Summit are outnumbering those, who have no opinion on it. In fact, except for External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and the babus in the PMO, including NSA Shiv Shankar Menon, none of the colleagues have come out openly to support Prime Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka. The Ministry of External Affairs is of the view that Sri Lankan President Rajkapsa has lived up to his promise by holding elections in Northern Province and has even sent the proposed dilution of the 13th Amendment to the Parliamentary Select Committee, which allows some autonomy to the Tamil minority. By not attending the CHOGM Summit, India will give an excuse to Sri Lanka to drift towards China. Most of the Tamil Ministers, including Environment Minister Jayanti Natarajan, Shipping Minister G K Vasan, Minister of State in PMO V Narayansamy, have already petitioned the Prime Minister, asking him not to attend the meeting. However, it is the reservation expressed by Antony, which will weigh heavily on the Prime Minister’s mind, while taking a call on the issue.

• Cabinet divided, with most ministers opposing the visit
• Antony, PC too join the boycott band
• Sonia not in favour owing to pressure from DMK
• Compromise formula worked out by MEA rejected

Antony, in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), is understood to have opposed the visit of the Prime Minister to Sri Lanka, taking the plea that it will not only annoy the Congress-ally, the DMK, but will also hurt the sentiments of the nine crore Tamilians. Antony, significantly, also heads the Congress Sub-Group on Future Alliances.

A compromise formula worked by the MEA has also found no takers in the Cabinet. As per the formula, it was suggested that the Prime Minister, on his way to Colombo, should first visit Jaffna, where he can express his solidarity with the Tamil people. However, the DMK has turned down this proposal, saying that the Prime Minister can visit Jaffna only after the CHOGM is over. “By boycotting, we will be showing our anger,” stated DMK supremo M Karunanidhi.