The Left parties are likely to resume participation in the UPA-Left coordination committee. They will meet on October 10 to discuss UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s letter, intimating the government’s decision to keep BHEL disinvestment on hold and asking them to consider returning to the coordination committee.CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said that unless the four parties formally meet on the issue, it would be premature to comment on the Left’s return to the UPA-Left meetings.Left leaders say the government’s assurance that BHEL disinvestment had been put on hold was a positive step. However, such an assurance falls short of their demand—outlined in their June 26 letter to Sonia—that disinvestment in PSU navratnas should be put on hold.CPM general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters in Mumbai, ‘‘The matter is settled as far as we are concerned but we had not suspended our participation from the UPA coordination committee on this issue alone but on the issue of navratnas as a whole.’’
