“There is common understanding with the Samajwadi Party on several issues, including Iran,” CPM general secretary Prakash Karat told mediapersons after a meeting with SP chief and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav here this evening. The Left is against the Iran issue being referred to the United Nations Security Council.

Mr Karat, however, parried a question if the Left parties would support the proposed no-confidence motion on the plea that he would have to discuss this matter with his Parliamentary colleagues before taking a decision.

The CPM leader had earlier threatened to bring the Manmohan Singh government on its knees. He stressed that the policies of the UPA government were not right and his party would strive to forge a joint platform to take on the government in Parliament on issues like Iran and FDI in retail trade. He made no bones that Iran was the main issue.

Simultaneously, the CPM and the CPI have given notice for a Parliamentary debate on the Iran nuclear issue in the upcoming budget session of Parliament which begins on February 16. Leaders of the Left parties contend they also intend giving notice for a debate on the privatisation of airports and other profit making PSUs.

They are confident that some of the allies of the UPA like the regional DMK, MDMK and PMK of Tamil Nadu will extend support to the Left on these issues. The Left insists that the purpose of the debate is to demonstrate how isolated the Congress is and out of sync with the ground realties and public opinion.

On the broader issue of continuing the outside support to the Manmohan Singh government as it has sidestepped the concerns of the Left, the leaders observed that the CPM at its Politburo meeting in Kolkata yesterday had reached the conclusion that the Centre’s performance over the past 20 months had been dismal. The Left parties will meet among themselves here on Monday before a Left-UPA Coordination Committee meeting.

The Left is clearly upping its ante against the UPA government and insists that it will frankly tell the Manmohan Singh government to mend its ways or they will be compelled to think of other possibilities.

The Left parties said the committee meeting would also bring into its ambit the Indo-US nuclear agreement and the Left’s alternative proposal for resource mobilisation and reduction in expenditure.

While the CPM has resolved to put the government in the dock on the Iran vote, FDI in retail and other economic aberrations contrary to the agreed National Common Minimum Programme, the RSP and the Forward Bloc have stressed that the Manmohan Singh coalition arrangement should only be accorded issue-based support. 

The Forward Bloc goes a step further in claiming that the Opposition JD (U) is prepared to support the Left on crucial matters of national importance. Some others in the Opposition are also waiting in the wings to join hands with the Left, according to the Forward Bloc leaders.
 
 

Left says no to Mulayam, lays confidence in UPA
Kolkata, February 9
The CPI(M) politburo, though differing widely on the question of the continuance of the support to the UPA government, today rejected the Samajwadi Party leader’s, Mr Mulayum Singh, proposal for bringing a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government in the Budget session of the Lok Sabha. 

On the contrary, the politburo at its meeting here today decided to extend support for some time more for allowing the government to rectify its past mistakes and further refrain from taking any new steps unilaterally violating the UPA’s common minumum programme.

Accordingly, the politburo wanted that all Left parties should move unitedly in raising protests, both inside and outside Parliament and also persuade other UPA partners like the RJD, Lok Sakti Dal, etc. to pressurise the Prime Minister against adopting any anti-people decision. 

After the meeting, Mr Sitaram Yechuri, an MP from West Bengal, said at this stage they were not discussing about the withdrawal of support. He denied they had received any proposal from Mr Mulayum Singh Yadav regarding no-confidence motion against the UPA government. He also ruled out any possibilities of the formation of an anti-Congress(l) third front.

The two-day politburo meeting which began today at the Alimuddin Street party office was attended by all members except Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who was ill. But the veteran, Mr Jyoti Basu, was present.

The meeting also discussed the party’s poll strategy in the coming Assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. 

Interestingly, Mr Debabrata Biswas, the Forward Bloc president, now in the city, was summoned at the Alimuddin Street office during the politburo meeting. He was requested to mediate at the ministerial level at the Centre for stopping the Prime Minister against taking any more decisions flouting the common minimum programme.

At the meeting it was also decided that the Left parties would attend the UPA’s coordination committee’s meeting on February 13 where they would convey their warnings.