CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury has endeared himself to the Congress leadership for his “practical” approach to politics and governance, in sharp contrast to his boss Prakash Karat’s dogmatic mein. At the Congress Working Committee meeting last Friday, Union Minister Saifuddin Soz, a member of the UPA-Left panel on the Indo-US nuclear deal, came down heavily on the Left. “I have not seen a more unreasonable man than Karat,” the minister said at the meeting. He was, however, all praise for Yechury for his pragmatic approach. Another CWC member who was bitter about the Left was Dr Karan Singh who said the Congress, as a centrist party, had as much ideological difference with the Left as with the BJP. Party leaders, of course, also pointed out that Singh’s presidential ambitions had once been thwarted by the Left.
