The Left parties are expected to step up the heat on the government over price rise and the Indo-US nuclear deal when they meet in New Delhi later this week to review the Congress-led coalition's four year performance.
The outside supporters of the United Progressive Alliance government have already mounted pressure on the two crucial issues of nuclear deal and the price situation, with the Communist Party of India warning the government of dire consequences.
The four parties -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the CPI, the Revolutinary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc -- are slated to meet in New Delhi on May 23 to review the government's report card of four years and decide on their course of action if it did not heed their demands.
However, Left sources said the meeting on Friday would depend on the health condition of veteran Marxist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who has gone into coma in a hospital in Noida.
The sources said they would await the fourth year's report card of the UPA before formulating their stand on major issues.
The meeting comes in the wake of CPM general secretary Prakash Karat observing that prospects of operationalising the nuclear deal as per the American deadline were fading away and a "desperate" attempt was being made to urge the government to go ahead with it ignoring the Left's opposition.
The CPI has also renewed its threat to withdraw support if the government moved ahead on the issue, with its general secretary A B Bardhan saying the government "will have to do it without us."
However, Bardhan ruled out the possibility of the Left parties moving a no-confidence motion against the government, saying, "You are forgetting that we are nine months away from elections. I don't see which political party will move a no-confidence motion when elections are round the corner."
The outside supporters have been conducting nationwide protests to demand urgent steps by the government to control prices.
Their demands include curbs on private companies buying foodgrains by amending the Essential Commodities Act, universalisation of public distribution system, restoration of cuts in the foodgrain quotas of states and prohibiting forward trading in 25 agricultural commodities.
Top Left leaders like Sitaram Yechuri have also warned the government of making "a wrong diagnosis" of the price problem, saying, "Factors like high rate of interest and appreciation of the rupee were compounding the problem, far from slowing it down."
CPI leader D Raja has also said the government's fiscal and monetary measures have failed to yield any result.
The meeting is also likely to discuss the results of the panchayat elections in West Bengal and the fallout of the violent incidents, especially those involving supporters of the ruling Left Front.
However, the sources said these issues would primarily be debated by the Left Front in Bengal itself.
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