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Efforts for Third Front intensify as UP elections approach

	June 19, 2006

The Left has intensified efforts to build a third alternative or Third Front, equidistant from both the Congress and the BJP, given its unhappiness with the economic and foreign policies pursued by the Congress-led United Progressive

Alliance Government, which it is supporting from outside at present. The approaching Assembly elections in the country’s most populous state - Uttar

Pradesh - due early next year, have provided another incentive for speedy progress towards a Third Front comprising the Left parties and regional outfits.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had a 45-minute breakfast meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow on June 17 where the possibility of forming a third front in the light of the coming Assembly elections in the state is reported to have figured prominently.

Karat and Yadav also discussed the spectre of rising prices, especially in the context of the Centre’s recent decision to hike the prices of petrol and diesel.

Karat said that his party along with other parties like the Samajwadi Party, would oppose the antipeople policies of the Manmohan Singh Government.

Prakash Karat said that the CPI(M)’s support to the UPA was basically on secular grounds to keep the BJP and other communal forces out of power. He said,

“ The option of the Third Front is still open. Discussions are continuing with like-minded political parties over the formation of the Front.”

Mulayam Singh Yadav said that the two parties would be working closely on issues like poverty and fuel prices. He said, “The Congress is employing all

tricks to pull down the state government. Still, we are supporting the UPA government at the Centre.” Both party chiefs warned the UPA not to take their support for granted, especially on the issue of fuel prices.

Speaking days after criticism that the Left state governments levy some of the highest taxes on petrol and diesel, Karat said, “The Central government gets

a major share of oil revenues in the form of excise and customs duties. The states’ share in sales tax is far less than the revenue collected by the Centre.”

Karat said rather than telling the States to slash sales tax, the Central Government should reduce excise and customs duties on fuel to provide relief

to the masses. He warned, “Our support to the Central Government should not be taken for granted.

We have extended support to the United Progressive

Alliance (UPA) to check the BJP and communal

forces from coming to power.”

He added: “The Left Front has submitted a

note to the UPA to draw attention to the areas of

differences.” Karat said the CPI(M) would decide on

its response after it gets an answer to the note next

month.

Left critical of UPA decision to import wheat

Strongly condemning the decision of the Centre

to import wheat at exorbitant prices, Karat declared

that his party, along with the support of the SP,

would oppose the “anti-people policies of the

Centre.”

Karat asserted that the CPI(M) and the SP had

several common issues. Coming out strongly in

support of the Samajwadi Party on the issue of the

petrol and diesel price hike, Karat said the SP was,

in fact, part of June 13 general strike by Left parties

on this issue. “The CPI(M) is committed to

supporting the SP on this issue and its secular

credentials”, he said.

The two leaders announced that the Samajwadi

Party and the CPI(M) would continue their protests

on issues like the rising prices of essential

commodities, the oil price hike and farmers’

problems.

Centre to buy foodgrains at market rates for

PDS

Stung by Left criticism of the decision to import

wheat, the Centre is reported to be formulating a

policy to buy foodgrains for the public distribution

system at market rates. The commercial intervention

will be to buy foodgrains at a price other than the

minimum support price to meet the needs of the

PDS. This was reportedly decided upon at a high

level meeting by the Union Food and Agriculture

Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday, June 16.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

at its meeting last week increased central assistance

to the states for the cooking cost in the mid-day

meals scheme from Rs. 1 to Rs. 1.50 per child per

day. All states other than the seven north-eastern

states would have to meet the remaining part of the

Rs. 2 cooking cost.

Sonia Gandhi slams UP Government

Significantly, the meeting between Prakash

Karat and Mulayam Singh Yadav came on a day

NEWS BEHIND NEWS 5 JUNE 19, 2006

when Congress president Sonia Gandhi slammed

the Uttar Pradesh Government for stopping 24 hour

power supply to Rae Bareli, the constituency she

represents in the Lok Sabha and from where she

was re-elected with a huge margin just weeks back

in a by-election. She accused Mulayam Singh Yadav

of according step-motherly treatment to Rae Bareli

and said injustice was being done to the people

there. Observers say that her criticism indicates that

the face off between the Mulayam Singh Yadav

Government and the UPA is snowballing into a

Centre-State confrontation.

Sonia Gandhi, who began a two-day

thanksgiving visit to Rae Bareli after her re-election,

was besieged by her constituents with complaints,

mainly about erratic power supply.

Talking to mediapersons during her roadshow

at Gurbaxganj, she said the State Government

enforced unscheduled power cuts after she was reelected

MP. “Is this justice ?”

The UPA chairperson parried a question on

whether her son and Amethi MP, Rahul Gandhi,

would be given an active role in politics, particularly

in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress is facing a

challenge from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan

Samaj Party.

Power supply to Rae Bareli is becoming a major

issue, as before the May by-election the State

Government announced 24-hour supply in the VIP

constituency. But the order was withdrawn a couple

of days after the poll result came.

Curiously enough, there were no power cuts

in Rae Bareli on Saturday during Sonia Gandhi’s

visit. Ashish Shukla, who is in charge of Congress

affairs in the Sataon Assembly constituency, said:

“There will be no power cut for two days, but once

Sonia Gandhi returns to New Delhi, we will again

have to contend with outages.”

Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde

received similar complaints on a visit to Rae Bareli

earlier last week.

Left disappointed with Centre’s performance

The 11th meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination

Committee held in New Delhi on Thursday, June

15, was used by the Left parties to express their

disappointment with the Centre’s performance

during the past two years. The Left parties were

also unhappy at the coordination committee meetings

not producing concrete results and becoming merely

a forum for talking out issues.

The Left parties submitted a lengthy note at the

meeting listing their grievances and suggestions on

economic and foreign policies. They said the nine-page

note was being submitted “with a view that an overall

discussion after a considered response on the UPA side

will help us to decide how to proceed in the future.”

The Committee is to meet again in July.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office

Prithvi Raj D. Chavan said, the meeting discussed the

communal situation in the country and the general

price rise.

Several other issues were also discussed at the

coordination committee meeting. Reports say the Left

parties emphasised the need to increase political

intervention in attending to problems in Jammu and

Kashmir and offered their views on how to carry

forward the process initiated by the United Progressive

Alliance Government.

The Left leaders suggested measures to move

ahead on the dialogue process with both separatists

and those in mainstream politics. The bottom line was

that Jammu and Kashmir was a national issue and there

should be complete understanding between the UPA

and the Left on it.

Left leaders discussed the communal situation in

the country and the situation in the northeast, and

expressed concern over the rise in the prices of essential

commodities. The recent hike in the prices of petrol

and diesel did not figure in the discussions.

Much of the discussion centred round Jammu and

Kashmir with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

briefing the leaders on the outcome of the first and

second round-table conferences and the progress of the

dialogue process.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil spoke about the

situation on the ground, the drop in infiltration, new

methods of attacks, the militants’ strategy of targeting

the minority community and security-related issues.

“There is the need to carry on dialogue with

the separatist organisations and also hold talks with

parties that are represented in the Assemblies and

in the political mainstream,” a senior Left leader

said. On the communal situation, the Left leaders

felt that the UPA as a political entity was not

attacking the problem. They said that besides Gujarat,

the minorities were under attack in all states where

the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power.

The Congress and its allies in the UPA should

be in the forefront of countering communal forces.

As a Left leader put it, “The Left has extended

support to the UPA to keep communal forces away.

They should work towards it.”

The Left leaders said the Centre should take

special note of the happenings in Gujarat, where

about 100 persons were still detained under the

now repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act, despite

the recommendations by the review committee.

Government not pursuing independent

foreign policy : Left

Charging the UPA government with continuing



with the National Democratic Alliance regime’s

policy of making India a “natural ally” of the United

States, the Left parties said the Government has

failed to fulfil its commitments under the National

Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) to pursue

an “independent foreign policy.”

The nine-page note said the framework

agreement on defence relations, the July 2005 joint

statement and the proposed nuclear cooperation

generated all-round vulnerability to U.S.

manipulations.

“Any deepening military collaboration with the

U.S. leading to massive arms purchases will seriously

compromise India’s strategic interests and

independent foreign policy. The U.S. has time and

again made it clear that it is keen to regard India as

an ally in the pursuit of its strategic goals in Asia,’’

the note said.

The note said: “There is a deep disquiet that

without transparent, open debates involving public

opinion, the government is allowing itself to be led

into protracted negotiations over matters of

fundamental importance to India’s nuclear policy.”

India’s vote on the Iran nuclear issue under

U.S. pressure diminished the country’s regional and

international standing and adversely affected its

relations with Iran. The UPA Government slackened

efforts to safeguard energy security by virtually

shelving the Iran gas pipeline project.

The Government was party to the U.S. being

given observer status in the South Asian Association

for Regional Cooperation despite its record of

pursuing “intrusive and interventionist policies.”

Greater role for UPA allies demanded

In a bid to downsize the Congress role, the

Left parties demanded a greater role for the UPA

allies in resolving political issues at the Coordination

Committee meetings. A day later, the Nationalist

Congress Party suggested on Friday, June 16, that

the Congress expand representation on the

Coordination Committee and include the allies such

as Rashtriya Janata Dal and the DMK. NCP general

secretary D.P. Tripathi told a news conference in

New Delhi, “the UPA is not synonymous with the

Congress. Why should the Congress alone share the

burden, the allies too should share it and strengthen

the UPA. The Coordination Committee should be

broad-based.” Tripathi said that for two years, the

UPA had been holding meetings with the Left parties

when, in fact, it was just the Congress and the Left.

The Congress, on its part, said that the UPA has a

general body in which all the allies are represented

while the Coordination Committee was formed at

the request of Left parties which wanted a formal

mechanism to inter-act with the UPA Government.

Trial run of Third Front

Earlier last week, the Left parties virtually

launched a trial run of a third alternative by joining

hands with non-BJP outfits to protest against the

UPA Government’s decision to increase petrol and

diesel prices. In Delhi, top Left leaders, Prakash

Karat, A.B.Bardhan, Sitaram Yechuri, Debabrata

Biswas and Abani Roy courted arrest along with

leaders of the Samajwadi Party , Rashtriya Lok Dal

and Janata Dal (Secular). In other parts of the

country, the Telugu Desam Party and Asom Gana

Parishad joined the Left-sponsored all India protest

day against the oil price hike.

Prakash Karat said, other parties joining the

Left programme was a significant development.

Demanding an immediate rollback of the hike in

petrol and diesel prices, the Left parties said that

they would continue their nationwide protests if the

Manmohan Singh Government failed to act on their

demand.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party held

massive protests throughout the state against

growing inflation and oil price increase. The strike

called by Left parties was almost total in Kerala

where life came to a standstill.

On Monday, June 12, the BJP and its NDA

allies organised their protests against the increase in

petroleum prices. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee and leader of the Opposition in the Lok

Sabha L.K. Advani were among the BJP leaders who

courted arrest in the national capital while protesting

against the rise in prices.

Speaking in New Delhi, Vajpayee ridiculed the

Centre’s decision to ask the state governments to

share the burden after increasing the fuel prices.

“This will become a joke. The Centre will have to

bring the prices down by cutting excise and customs

duties and not by asking the states to cut their sales

tax.”

The Congress on its part said that the BJPruled

states should emulate the Congress-governed

states in reducing the burden on the common man

by restructuring the sales tax on petrol and diesel.

The BJP got a shock when the RSS mouthpiece,

Organiser, said that the party’s protest against the

hike lacked intellectual honesty. An editorial in the

magazine criticised the BJP-ruled states for not

reducing levies on petrol and diesel.

“The BJP can make a beginning instead of

protesting on the streets by stopping the wheels and

adding to public misery. The party can walk the

talk by asking its state governments to reduce state

levies on fuel and show the way.”

The RSS journal said, “The political parties

cannot have it both ways. That is why we say,

protests lack intellectual honesty.” It also criticised



the Left, saying : “The CPI(M) is protesting fuel

price hike as if the BJP is in power at the Centre.

The Congress is protesting as if it is the NDA that is

ruling. Sonia Gandhi protests as if A.B. Vajpayee is

running the country. Political farce cannot be more

brazen.”

Congress criticises CPI(M) “opportunism”

The Congress has criticised the CPI(M) move

to join hands with the Telugu Desam Party in the

Panchayat Raj (Rural local bodies) elections in

Andhra Pradesh. The TDP is an erstwhile associate

of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Andhra

Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhra Reddy said

in Hyderabad on Tuesday, June 13, that the CPI(M)

should justify what he called “its rank opportunism”

in joining hands with the TDP. At a news conference,

Rajshekhra Reddy did not mince words in attacking

the CPI(M) by asking how a progressive and secular

party could join hands with the TDP which had

earlier allied with the BJP.

The CPI is, however, sticking to its alliance

with the Congress in the elections to the district

councils in the state.