Left and SP try to paper over cracks, Cong keenly watching

The SP, which has sent signals that it’s willing to “look at new facts on the deal,” will enunciate its final stance after a UNPA meeting on July 3. It’s learnt that the Congress will wait for this before it takes its call. The ruling party is not averse to initiating a dialogue with the SP to elicit support, depending on the SP’s stance.

Clearly, there are many in the party wary about facing early elections in the times of double-digit inflation. There’s also another view in the party that as a minority government, it would not be easy to push negotiations at several international fora. The strategy, therefore, is to look for potential allies who could prop up the government in case the Left withdraws.

These issues figured in the discussion at this evening’s Congress core group meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence, attended by party president Sonia Gandhi, her political secretary Ahmed Patel, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony.

Although the SP’s 39 MPs might not add up to a simple majority for the UPA in the Lok Sabha, the UPA is likely to get the required magic number of eight MPs with the help of 3 JD(S), 3 RLD and some Independent MPs. Congress crisis managers are also hoping that the Left might not collaborate with the BJP to bring the government down and may abstain — CPI’s A B Bardhan has indicated as much.

Congress managers were encouraged by the fact that the SP hasn’t opened all its cards yet and by the chill between the SP and the Left after senior CPM leader M K Pandhe’s remark that a majority of Muslims were against the deal and that’s why Mulayam Singh Yadav should “think twice” before supporting it.

Mulayam met CPM general secretary Prakash Karat today who issued a statement trying to paper over the cracks. “The remarks made by M K Pandhe, member, CPM Politburo, on the nuclear deal issue on June 23, 2008 are not the views of the party,” the statement said.

Mulayam, however, kept everyone guessing saying that a decision would come only after the July 3 meeting. This “calculated silence” has made Left parties wary as the SP has been one of its close associates on various issues against the government in the past. Top SP sources told The Indian Express that Yadav had spoken to Karat last Friday and told him that the SP “may not” blindly follow the Left on this issue of “national interest” and could take an independent line.

SP sources said while the party has kept its options open on the nuclear deal, there was no urgency for them as the “onus is with the Congress” to allay their apprehensions. They also cited the infamous dinner episode at Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s residence in 2004 in which party general secretary Amar Singh had been given a cold shoulder. Even in the run-up to the Assembly elections in UP, the Congress had launched a bitter campaign against the then SP regime. Karat, on the other hand, had saved the SP regime when the Congress was determined to impose President’s Rule ahead of the election.

SP sources, nevertheless, said that the party had become wary of the Left after the latter ignored them in the run- up to the Presidential election last year. Even on the Women’s Reservation Bill, the Left snubbed the SP.

What has also added to SP’s discomfiture, its leaders claim, is how the Left was silent when the Samajwadi Party tried to attack the Mayawati government in Parliament after the serial attacks in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi.

While Congress may have to woo SP to bail itself out, the SP is also aware that it will be riding against the rising tide of the BSP in Uttar Pradesh and the party will have to look for partners to position itself more firmly against Mayawati in the next Lok Sabha elections.