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UPA : Pressure group emerging within

	August 02, 2004

A pressure group is reportedly coming up within the ruling United Progressive Alliance. The non-Congress component in the combine has had two informal meetings in recent weeks to speak in one voice on issues concerning their respective states. A third interaction is likely when Parliament reconvenes on August 16 after a three-week recess.

The group’s first meeting took place immediately after the Lok Sabha polls and the second when Congress president Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister. Leaders of 14 parties, which have joined hands with the Congress, met at that time to take stock of the new situation. Some of them even approached Sonia to find out how her decision would impact the Congress’ pre-poll assurances like a separate Telengana state as she had personally hammered out the alliance with them.

The issues taken up at the two meetings of the Congress’ UPA allies included sharing of the Cauvery river waters (raised by the DMK, PMK and MDMK), statehood for Telengana, now part of Andhra Pradesh, and a special package for Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar, since then announced by the Centre. As and when required, the leaders would meet and take up other issues.

Party leaders insist that their get-togethers aren’t aimed “at least so far” at pushing the Centre. On the contrary, they say, they have kept their interaction low-key so that it isn’t misread as a move to arm-twist or destabilise the government. But these parties together account for more than 100 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, enough to assert themselves should the need arise. So long as the government goes by the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which incorporates some of their major concerns, these leaders would have little cause for complaint. But according to a leader they will unite and speak in one voice when the need to press their demand arises. So far the incipient group doesn’t intend to set up a separate coordination panel to formalise its consultations. The Sonia-led UPA coordination committee is considered an effective mechanism for streamlining the allies’ relationship.



Left keen on Coordination mechanism

The Left parties, which have made it clear they will keep a watch on the UPA policies and the direction it takes, are keen on a formal mechanism for coordination between them and the UPA.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the CPI, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All-India Forward Bloc had suggested the inclusion of representatives of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Nationalist Congress Party, to broadbase it and not make it look like one dominated by the Left.

CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has said his party would keep a close watch on the government and ensure that it works within the framework of the CMP. He said the Left was satisfied with the government as it understood its shortcomings.

Politburo member Sitaram Yechury had earlier indicated that the UPA government could not take the support for granted and had stated that “we will not be responsible for the fall of the government.” His remarks sparked off speculations about the stability of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.

Now, with the CPI(M) Politburo and the Central Committee meeting in the Capital with ‘future relationship of the party with the government’ as one of the major issues in the agenda, it was quite clear that the remarks were not off the cuff.

Although the party was unlikely to withdraw its support, the UPA Government could not expect unconditional support from the CPM as the party would raise issues of concern which were contrary to the CMP. The Left parties and the UPA government have been on the collision course especially on the hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom, civil aviation and insurance sectors. While the UPA government managed to hike the FDI in telecom and civil aviation through a Cabinet nod, it will have to bring in an IRDA amendment Bill in Parliament, which the Left parties have vowed to oppose.

Political observers point out that the Left parties had to maintain their love-hate relationship with the UPA government in order to protect their own base in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. The Left parties surely would not like to vacate the space of Opposition completely to the BJP nor would they like to take any hasty step which would result in the return of the NDA at the Centre. At the same time, they would like to maintain their anti-Congress stance, as the party had won most of the seats in its bastion defeating Congress candidates.



PM, Sonia to be on coordination panel

A high-powered coordination committee to sort out issues between the UPA government and its Left allies, to be formed soon, will consist of at least 12 members including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPM veteran Harkishan Singh Surjeet. This emerged after a meeting CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu had with Ms Gandhi, the UPA chairperson, Congress sources said. Ms Gandhi and the PM would be among the six members from the Congress side. The other four members from the Congress would be announced after PM’s return from Bangkok.

It was not immediately clear how many leaders from non-Congress and non-Left parties would be in the committee. The Left parties have already given six names to the UPA chairperson. They are Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), AB Bardhan and D Raja (CPI), Abani Roy (RSP) and Devabrata Biswas (FB).

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee while addressing the India Inc. meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, said the Left Front Government headed by him was not opposed to foreign direct investment (FDI) per se and invited foreign and domestic investment in the State. He also exuded confidence that the differences between the UPA Government and the Left parties over FDI caps in certain sectors would be resolved soon.

With “Resurgent Bengal” as theme of his address, Bhattarcharjee asserted that his Government was pro-investment, pro-growth and pro-reform. As evidence, he cited the fact that the Japanese investment in West Bengal was the highest in the country. Conceding that there were certain problems afflicting the State, the Chief Minister assured industry that his Government was trying hard to address them and create an investment-friendly climate for industry.

In the context of the new situation at the national level with the UPA Government coming to power with the support of the Left parties from outside, he said the Left Front was more or less happy with the Common Minimum Programme but there were certain differences regarding FDI cap in the insurance, civil aviation and telecom sectors. These differences would be sorted out soon as discussions with the UPA Government were on, he said, however, making it clear that the Left parties were opposed to dismantling of profit earning public sector undertakings.