Manmohan Singh mediates deal with Left to oust govt
George Iype in New Delhi
Former finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh has emerged as the key mediator between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Left leaders to set in motion the possible formation of a Left-supported, Congress-led government at the Centre.
The Left parties have already hinted they are willing to back any initiative from the Congress leadership to ensure the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and to form a Congress-led coalition government.
Though the apex Congress Working Committee on Tuesday refused to take any steps to unseat the Vajpayee government immediately, sources said parleys are on between Congress and Left leaders to chalk out a common strategy.
Sonia has reportedly entrusted Dr Singh with the responsibility to mediate with the Left parties which have traditionally opposed the Congress, mainly due to their differences on economic policies and their dislike of the Gandhi family.
But Left leaders privately suggest they are more amenable to Sonia taking over as prime minister in a Congress-led government.
"Our strategy is to throw the BJP government out of power because its survival is dangerous to the country," a senior Left leader told Rediff On The NeT,
on condition of anonymity.
He said the only problem about an alliance with the Congress was on the issue of economics. "The Congress has to introspect and come out with a wise decision on the economic front," he said.
Dr Singh -- who is close to Sonia -- has been asked by the Congress leadership to try and convince the Left leaders about the errors in the BJP's first Budget, but at the same time of the need to continue the liberalisation process initiated by him in 1991.
With this in mind, Dr Singh went over to Calcutta last week and spent more than two hours with West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.
Congress sources said Basu conveyed to Dr Singh that the Communist Party of India-Marxist -- with 32 seats in the Lok Sabha -- has no objection to Sonia taking over the reins provided the party alters its economic policies. The Left's differences with the Congress, Basu added, are largely over liberalisation.
The CPI-M, along with other Left parties like the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc are opposed to disinvestment in core sectors. Though the Left Front does not now oppose foreign investment, many Marxists feel the entry of foreign institutional investors is avoidable.
The Congress, which opened the doors for foreign direct investment in India, is unlikely to bow to these demands.
But both the Congress and Left leaders feel a minimum common programme could be worked out between them for "a working government."
For instance, one Congress leader noted that in 1969-70, the CPI-M had given issue-based support to the Indira Gandhi-led government after her battle with the Congress Syndicate. "The Left then supported the Congress on progressive issues like the nationalisation of banks and collieries, her garibi hatao programme and the abolition of privy purses," the Congress leader told Rediff On The NeT, adding, "we expect a similar arrangement with the Left now."
But the Left leaders are unsure if the Congress will go back to its ideology of the 1970s just to cobble together an alliance.
"We would be happy to support a Congress-led government provided the party leadership lets us know how it wants to steer the country's economy now," CPI national secretary Doraiswamy Raja told Rediff On The NeT. "We also wish to know if the Congress is ready to launch economic reforms with a human face," he said.
Congress sources said Dr Singh will meet a number of Left leaders, including CPI-M General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, to bridge the differences over economic policies.
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