UPA, Left hasten meet

With the Left parties crying foul over the Centre’s recent economic decisions, the UPA Government-Left coordination committee’s me...

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With the Left parties crying foul over the Centre’s recent economic decisions, the UPA Government-Left coordination committee’s meeting has been brought forward from the month-end to next Wednesday.

There are clear indications that the Congress wants to assuage the Left and does not want all this animus to spill over to Parliamentary proceedings. Besides, there may be voting on the Finance Bill around August 23-24 and the Congress wants to ensure it has the Left’s numbers.

While, the Left parties may have toned down their criticism of the Centre’s policy on FDI, initially CITU leader, M.K. Pandhe had even warned of cut motions. With such drastic steps being conceived of and aired in public, it is apparent the Congress was not taking any chances. The Congress’ urgency in convening this meeting was evident in the number of calls which even smaller Left partners like RSP received from party leader Ahmed Patel since last evening.

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Immediately, the Left leadership tentatively decided that they would convene a meeting of the four constituents — CPM, CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP — on Monday to discuss a strategy for Wednesday. After their discussions, the Left may also inform the two UPA Government convenors, PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, of the agenda they would prefer to be taken up.

The Left’s meeting has become crucial to decide the right mix of protest and cooperation which they would adopt. As far as possible, the Left committee would like to meet every Monday during the Parliament session to discuss issues that are ‘‘forced upon them’’ by the Centre.

RSP leader Abani Roy said: ‘‘We have to take a tough stand. No way can we allow the UPA to trample upon our wishes in this manner.’’ Forward Bloc’s G. Devrajan pointed out that the LPG and kerosene price hike would hurt the Left constituency most.‘