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Uneasy relationship: Both Congress, Left looking for right time to say bye bye |
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Both the Congress and the Left have climbed down from their hardline positions on the nuclear deal after a week of upping the ante on the issue. But all signs are that it is going to be a temporary truce till they have tied up alternative partners.
The latest bout on the the Indo-US nuclear deal started with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, UPA's pointsperson on the issue, making a suo motu statement in Parliament hinting at going ahead with the negotiations on the nuclear deal, despite opposition from the Left. This was followed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's uncharacteristically combative statement in Parliament while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, not only taking on the oppostion BJP, but also saying that the UPA will continue efforts to build a national consensus on carrying forward the nuclear deal. More irritating to the Left, he also appeared to be seeking BJP veteran leader Atal Behari Vajpayee's support for the deal, calling him the 'Bhisham Pitamah' of Indian politics.
There was a sharp reaction from the Left to the Manmohan-Mukherjee remarks in Parliament, with CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat writing to the government, seeking convening of a meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal by March 15 to discuss the matter. CPI general secretary A. B.
Bardhan went a step further and said that if the UPA went ahead with the nuclear deal, his party would withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh government.
Faced with the virtual ultimatum from the Left, which is resurgent after storming back to power in Tripura for a record fourth time, the government had no other option, but to backtrack on the nuclear deal, especially as the common man-oriented Union Budget has not yet been passed by Parliament. The UPA appears to be in no mood to contribute to the creation of a situation, where the Left moves a cut motion, leading to fall of the government.
Pranab Mukherjee signalled the backtracking, when he said in New Delhi on March 8 that there is no question of sacrificing the Manmohan Singh government on the nuclear deal issue, as neither the Congress nor its allies want an early Lok Sabha poll.
CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury, on his part, said that the Left is not interested in destabilising the government, and its agenda is the nuclear deal, not bringing down the UPA government.
While both sides may appear to have drawn back from the brink, the Left is going to be more assertive, given the Tripura victory and comparatively lack-lustre performance of the Congress in Assembly elections in three north-eastern states.
While Mukherjee says that the Congress is not looking for early general elections and the Left says that it is opposed only to the nuclear deal, and not UPA's continuance in office, both sides appear to be looking for the right time to ditch each other. The decisive factor is likely to be how much policical leeway can be gained at the particular time.
The Congress would like the impact of the common man-oriented budget provisions to percolate to the grass-roots, before it makes a decisive move on the political chess-board. The Left, on its part, would like to sew up an arrangement with the United National Progressive Alliance, UNPA, for a third alternative before it pulls the plug on the UPA. Who knows, the Left may even head such an alternative, as hinted by the Forward Bloc.
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