Sonia

New Delhi, Aug. 21: The Congress is in a fix over how to accommodate Opposition MPs who risked disciplinary action and bailed the government out in the July 22 trust vote.

Many of them are now holding the Congress to its “promise” of a Lok Sabha ticket in exchange for their support.

These MPs include BJP members H.T. Sangliana, K. Manjunath Channappa and Manorama Madhavraj from Karnataka and Harisingh N. Rathod from Maharashtra; the Akali Dal’s S.S. Libra and W. Wangyuh Konyak from the Nagaland People’s Party.

Congress sources said the party’s Karnataka unit was happy to see the return of Sangliana, a Mizo domiciled in Bangalore from where he was elected, but the party’s Mizoram leaders had warned of “rebellion” if he was fielded in the general elections.

Rathod, an MP from Yewatmal in Vidarbha, was nearly certain of a Congress ticket until veteran Datta Meghe upset the plans.

Meghe, a Sharad Pawar loyalist, left the Nationalist Congress Party today to join the Congress after he was denied a Rajya Sabha nomination. He appears keen on contesting from Yewatmal. Congress sources, however, said Rathod, who belongs to the powerful Banjara caste, stood a better chance of winning.

Channappa was in the Congress till he was denied a ticket in the 2004 Assembly polls. The BJP lured him away with a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections that were held simultaneously. Channappa won with the backing of the Lingayat caste.

But privately, Channappa had been telling the Congress’s Karnataka leaders that he was ready to return if he was received “honourably”. However, I.G. Sanadi, a Muslim candidate from the Congress who lost to him in the 2004 polls, has threatened to play the “minority card” if Channappa is re-admitted.

The party’s Nagaland unit, too, has warned of dissent if Konyak is given a ticket. Nobody in Punjab, however, has said anything against a similar deal for the Akali Dal’s Libra.

Among the other BJP members who voted for the government are Chandrabhan B. Singh of Madhya Pradesh and Somabhai Patel of Gujarat. Singh is an Uma Bharti loyalist but, with his mentor’s political future now uncertain, he is knocking on the Congress’s door for a ticket.

Somabhai, too, wants a ticket but the Congress, after its unhappy experience in the last Gujarat elections when it accommodated BJP rebels, has been having second thoughts.

The Congress is also worried about Maharashtra strongman Narayan Rane, a former Shiv Sena member and chief minister. Rane is on the verge of quitting the party after being told he would not be considered for the post of chief minister.