Kan, Ozawa to meet Tues. to avoid showdown over DPJ leadership+

TOKYO, Aug. 30 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Ichiro Ozawa, one of the most powerful figures in
the Democratic Party of Japan, will hold talks Tuesday in connection with the
ruling party's presidential election next month in an attempt to avoid a
political showdown between them.
Kan and his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama said they agreed in their talks Monday
evening that the DPJ should enhance party unity by maintaining the so-called
troika leadership involving them and Ozawa.
Kan expressed hope that Ozawa will not run in the Sept. 14 election, which will
effectively determine whether the prime minister can remain in office, when he
spoke to the press with Hatoyama after holding the meeting at the premier's
residence.
Hatoyama said whether Ozawa should withdraw from the race was a matter for
Ozawa to decide during or after the planned talks with Kan.
Kan and Hatoyama said they did not discuss anything related to who should
assume senior party leadership posts after the election.
Senior DPJ lawmakers stepped up efforts Monday to allay further tension between
Kan and Ozawa.
Concerned about the possible breakup of the DPJ, the lawmakers had been trying
to arrange talks between Kan and Ozawa, who held the party's No. 2 post of
secretary general until June.
Ozawa has told Hatoyama, who has been acting as a mediator between the two,
that he is ready to hold talks if Kan promises to make further efforts to
strengthen party unity, according to DPJ sources.
''There has been concern over the situation turning into a head-on crash,''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference regarding the
party' presidential election. ''I hope wisdom will prevail to help the party
run the government as one.''
In the afternoon, Hatoyama held talks with Ozawa and Azuma Koshiishi, leader of
the DPJ's upper house caucus.
The three discussed whether Kan and Ozawa should meet face-to-face before
campaigning officially begins Wednesday, but ''the situation remained the
same,'' said one of the attendees of the meeting on condition of anonymity.
Ozawa told a meeting of the DPJ in the evening that it is necessary to
determine the winner but contenders for the party leadership need to work
together for the party when the election is over.
Since the DPJ's setback in the House of Councillors election in July, Kan has
been unable to reach Ozawa, who has bitterly criticized the way he runs the
party and the government.
Ahead of the latest meeting between Kan and Hatoyama, DPJ Vice President Kenji
Yamaoka, a close ally of Ozawa, said the former secretary general's candidacy
for the party leadership will go ahead as planned.
Taking into account various developments within the party, DPJ lawmakers
supporting Kan's bid for reelection on Monday suspended their initial plan to
set up a joint campaign headquarters for the election later in the day.
Not all lawmakers belonging to a party group headed by Hatoyama, which is the
second biggest after Ozawa's, have made up their minds over whether to back
Kan, who succeeded Hatoyama as party leader and premier in June, or the former
secretary general.
Hatoyama recently switched from supporting Kan to Ozawa in the coming race.
One of the lower house members in Hatoyama's group, Banri Kaieda, who had
indicated his willingness to run in the election, said Monday he will support
Ozawa.
Ozawa has had a big presence inside and outside the DPJ, which swept to power
in the House of Representatives election a year ago.
But the latest opinion polls by major media outlets have found that an
overwhelming number of voters favor Kan as Japan's leader over Ozawa, who has
been embroiled in a political funds scandal involving his former secretaries.
==Kyodo
2010-08-30 23:11:24