'Positive developments' in meeting with Rahul Gandhi: Kalikho Pul

NEW DELHI: The leader of the 21 rebel Congress MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh said there were “positive developments” in the backdoor negotiations the group had with the party high command, amid the raging legal battle over the Centre imposing President’s rule in the state. Kalikho Pul’s expression of optimism came after the rebel MLAs were invited for a meeting with party vice president Rahul Gandhi at his residence on Friday.

“I and around 20 colleagues (Congress rebel MLAS) had cordial and positive discussions with Rahul Gandhi. This was the first time we got a chance to meet Rahulji ever since we came to Delhi four months back to take up the issues in the Arunachal Congress with the high command,” Pul told ET. “As I said earlier (to ET on January 27), all of us still remain Congressmen and our issues are limited to corruption and autocratic functioning of Ex-Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.”

Pul and his colleagues, meanwhile, reiterated their demand for the Congress to remove Tuki.

In addition to the calculations on possible court orders on President’s rule in the state, some tricky issues seem to have made the Gandhi-led AICC realize the virtue of negotiations and the Pul-led rebels to reciprocate the peace effort. While the AICC needs to negotiate the return of the rebels MLAs, whom the BJP is wooing, to showcase majority in the assembly, the rebels are under pressure to negotiate the revocation of disqualification of 14 MLAs from the assembly.

For the Congress, the role of the rebels has become crucial in the number game irrespective of the nature of the Supreme Court ruling. If the President’s rule is struck down by the apex court, the Congress needs to woo back the rebels to win the floor test. If it wins over the rebels, the party brass feels, even if the President’s rule is upheld by the court, the BJP will find it tough to prop up an alternate government before the budget session to avert the Rajya Sabha rejecting ratification of the Central rule.