Pressure mounted on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday from within the Congress’s leadership to stay away from the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo, with senior leaders hinting that domestic considerations outweighed strategic interests.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, however, said no decision had been taken yet. These indications came hours after the Congress Core Group, which included party president Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister, discussed the subject for more than an hour — the second time in a fortnight — even as parties in Tamil Nadu and Union Ministers from the State and Puducherry continued to oppose Dr. Singh’s participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
