The top leadership of the Congress is now all set to counter the Opposition onslaught against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's diplomatic initiative on Pakistan. It has decided to fully back him on the Egypt statement.
In a late night meeting that lasted more than two hours, the controversial Indo-Pak statement was discussed threadbare by the top leaders of the Congress. However, there was no official word on what happened at the meeting.
NDTV has learnt that the Congress top leaders have thrashed out a strategy to retrieve lost political ground.
Sources have said that the Prime Minister will assure Parliament next week that there is no question of the government going soft on terror.
The Prime Minister will also assure Parliament that India's national interest will not be compromised.
As per the sources, the Prime Minister will tell Parliament that the joint statement does not go soft on Pakistan acting against the perpetrators of 26/11, and that Pakistan will have to show concrete results and just words will no longer do.
On the thorny issue of Balochistan, sources say the Congress top leaders have decided to stick to the stand that its mention in the joint statement does not in any way signal India's guilt in supporting terror in Balochistan, and that Pakistan has merely reflected its concern in the statement.
