Left sends thank you note to PM

Every Left party made it a point to send a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday wishing him and his government ‘‘succ...

Every Left party made it a point to send a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday wishing him and his government ‘‘success’’, in a gesture conveying the block’s continuing support to the alliance.

It was all the more significant that the Left leaders sent their best wishes even after deciding that they would stay away from the function, as in their words ‘‘it is not our government, we are only supporting from outside’’.

Of course, on a day when the Left stayed away from the brief function at Panchvati on Race Course Road, there was curiosity about Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav meeting Prakash Karat, the CPI(M) general secretary, at the latter’s party headquarters in A.K.Gopalan Bhavan.

Senior politburo member, Sitaram Yechury attended the meeting too.

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Karat told The Indian Express that no immediate political significance should be attached to the meeting. ‘‘He called on me because we had not met in Delhi after I assumed charge. I have met him once in Lucknow,’’ Karat said.

It is true that an alternative is not a priority for the Left block at the moment but relations between the Samajwadi Party and the CPI(M) has been improving of late.

And the distance which had crept in last year was being bridged slowly. Mulayam himself is interested in continuing the same relationship with Karat that he has all along enjoyed with the former general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet.

In response to the invitations sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, four letters were dispatched by the four different parties. The letters addressed to the PM went out from Prakash Karat of CPI(M), A.B.Bardhan and D.Raja of the CPI, Abani Roy of the RSP and Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Block.

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Karat’s letter said, ‘‘On the occasion of the completion of one year of the UPA government, I wish you all success in the coming period for the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme and meeting the aspirations of the common people. We look forward to our continuing cooperation in this endeavour.’’

While Karat’s letter carefully inserted the words Common Minimum Programme to underline the very basis of the Left support to this government, the letter addressed by Bardhan and Raja, specifically mentioned the need to address the needs of the ‘‘poor and toiling’’ masses.

Abani Roy wrote, ‘‘I am confident that you and your government would take decisions in the interest of the country and downtrodden.’’