The Left parties are meeting tomorrow to take stock of the political scenario after the Maharashtra polls and to study the government’s logic that it is difficult to raise money for some of the CMP schemes like the Employment Guarantee Scheme. This will be the first meeting of the four Left constituents after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram handed them the United Progressive Alliance government’s response to the Left’s views on foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom. Tomorrow, the four Left parties will discuss if it is necessary to send another written note on the subject to the Finance Minister. The Left is unhappy with many aspects of Chidambaram’s point-by-point rebuttal. Other Left parties are looking forward to the CPM’s views on the note and then take a decision on whether to respond at all. They are also studying the various views emanating from government circles on difficulties in implementing the pro-poor schemes in the Common Minimum Programme. For the past week or so, several UPA leaders have said that there would be difficulties in finding funds for schemes like the Employment Guarantee Scheme. The Left believes this is possible even without trying to raise money by hiking FDI percentage in telecom and insurance sectors.Another crucial area of difference with the UPA government is also gradually emerging. The Left believes that the recent Cabinet nod to a Rs 500-crore package for ailing 24 PSUs is hardly a revival measure. Mere pumping in of funds on a one-time basis cannot be a magic solution, according to the Left leaders. They want a sustained effort by the government.In fact, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan has sent a letter to Santosh Mohan Deb, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries, saying that this injection of funds was not enough. In an earlier letter, Deb had said that it was not the government’s job to go on bailing out all these industrial units.
