The Indian Express’ front page (Archive)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes are planning to fly to Patna to seek Jayaprakash Narayan’s help and advice on ways to solve the Janata Party crisis. Punjab chief minister, Prakash Singh Badal, is also leaving for Patna for talks with JP. Badal’s quest for Janata unity took him to Suraj Kund, where he had a fairly long meeting with the home minister, Charan Singh. Badal also had a meeting with the Prime Minister Morarji Desai and with Vajpayee, Fernandes and Chandra Shekhar. It is understood that Badal has launched his unity efforts after
consultations with the Haryana chief minister, Devi Lal.
Shah Panel Reports
A Cabinet Secretariat spokesman said the Union Home Ministry had not sent any proposal to the Union Cabinet for a follow-up action on the Shah Commission reports submitted to the government, so far. The spokesman added that there was never a proposal to set up a sub-committee to consider a follow-up action. He said the PM’s views on the subject had been enunciated at a press conference. Desai does not favour any sidetracking of the existing law for taking action against Mrs Gandhi. Nor does he favour any new legislation for dealing with Emergency offences committed by Mrs Gandhi, he said.
Panel Term Extended
The Union Cabinet extended the Shah Commission’s term by three months. The Commission will now sit till September 30 to complete its inquiry into the excesses committed during Emergency.
Purge in South Yemen
The President of South Yemen, Salem Robaye Ali, was forced out of office and executed after clashing with members of his Marxist regime. The Iraqi news agency, reporting from Aden said Ali, 43, and his two associates were shot after the central committee of the ruling National Front accused Ail of trying to stage a military coup.