The Left parties, at a meeting yesterday, discussed the need to bring a law, if need be, to provide reservation in private unaided educational institutions. Giving details of the meeting, CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said “We are against commercialisation of education. The government should bring a new law, and if need be amend the constitution, to ensure reservation in admissions to unaided colleges,” Dasgupta said. The Left also said that reforms needed to be reviewed to make sure the poor also benefited. D Raja, CPI’s national secretary said at a seminar on poverty alleviation and economic reforms at Assocham that if the poor were not brought within the purview of the economic reforms process, it could lead to social strife. Raja said the Left was not against creation of wealth and only wanted the issue of equitable distribution to be addressed. Left rethinks coordination New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Wednesday indicated that the Left parties may rethink their decision to stay away from the meetings of the UPA-Left coordination committee after the ongoing Parliament session, provided the government assures them not to disinvest Navratna companies. “We expect some movement to take place after the Parliament session ends,” CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechuri told reporters here. He did not elaborate the “movement” he was referring to. The session ends on August 31. The Left parties had suspended participation in the meetings because of government’s decision to disinvest 10 per cent stake in BHEL. PTI
