Jyoti Basu to meet Sonia, Manmohan

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu will have a luncheon meeting with United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday during which the former West Bengal chief minister will explain the Communist Party of India-Marxist's views on the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme.

"I will meet Gandhi and Singh jointly on Saturday," Basu told reporters on the sidelines of the crucial meeting of the full CPI-M politburo in Delhi on Friday. The meeting is being held in the backdrop of Left parties stepping up pressure on the UPA government to demand implementation of the CMP.

CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechuri, who had met Gandhi and Singh in the past few days to voice concerns on FDI and other issues, said the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting would be held sometime later in September after the prime minister returns from his upcoming foreign tour.

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Describing Friday's Politburo meeting as a routine one, he told reporters that electoral strategy for Maharashtra assembly and some bye-elections would also be discussed.

Yechury had on Thursday met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and is understood to have conveyed his party's stand against a hike in FDI cap in the telecom and insurance sectors.