Cong fields face-saver formula on UPA panel

After having resisted Left pressure to take representatives of key UPA partners on board the 12-member co-ordination committee, the Congress...

After having resisted Left pressure to take representatives of key UPA partners on board the 12-member co-ordination committee, the Congress has proposed that no permanent members be nominated against the four vacant slots. Instead, the ministers concerned may be invited to meetings of the committee according to the issues on the table, it has said.

The regular members of the body would be UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and six leaders of Left parties.

Sources disclosed that a final announcement of the committee’s composition is expected tomorrow. The first meeting of the panel is likely to take place on Wednesday.

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The Congress has come up with the new formula, given the fact that most issues on the Left priority list concern the ministries headed by its own men — P. Chidambaram (Finance), Kamal Nath (Commerce) and Sis Ram Ola (Labour).

The formula would enable both Congress and the Left to save face. The Left had insisted that the committee have representatives of at least the NCP, DMK and RJD on board.

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