Refusing to give any hint on his future course of action, the former railway minister remained non-committal but remarked that he would “mince no words” during his meeting with Gandhi.
He admitted that he was in touch with BSP leader Mayawati and NCP president Sharad Pawar but said he has friends in all parties including the Left.
While Sharief kept his cards close to his chest, party sources said the very fact that he has agreed to meet Gandhi was an indication that he would withdraw his resignation. This, however, would come with a rider, they said. The conditions that he might put or demands that he might raise would be known later, they added.
A six-time MP who was humbled in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sharief said he would speak to Gandhi about the issues agitating him and hinted that the attitude of the party towards the minorities was one of them, besides the way in which Congress candidates for the Karnataka assembly elections were selected.
“I can't say anything (about the outcome of the meeting),” Sharief, one of the senior-most leaders from the minority community, said.
Asked whether his resignation move was a sudden decision, he said a lot of thought went into it before he decided to quit. “It was building up for long. It had to come out. May be my timing was wrong. But I had to speak out and I did.”
He told Deccan Herald: “Sometimes certain situations in life make one have a look back on various issues to find out where one stands.” Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rehman Khan and party leader D B Chandre Gowda were some of the leaders who met the former railway minister.
The Congress sources said he was unhappy with the guidelines set by the party for choosing its candidates. He was of the opinion that BSP would do the maximum damage and with the Congress policies not helping it, minorities might not side with the party.
Though there were a large number of Tamils in Bangalore, no Tamil was selected by the party. There was a skewed selection of Muslims in Bangalore and elsewhere. No selection was made locally which should have been the case instead of everything being decided in Delhi.
