Left split on FDI in airports

A week ago, the Left parties had decided to send detailed written notes to the UPA government on issues they consider contentious. The notes...

A week ago, the Left parties had decided to send detailed written notes to the UPA government on issues they consider contentious. The notes were to be sent in advance to facilitate a structured dialogue at tomorrow’s coordination committee meeting.

Till this evening, a crucial note on FDI caps in airports was pending, as there were differences among the Left partners on foreign investment permissible for upgradation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. The CPI has been hinting for some time that it was more open to negotiations on FDI in the airports issue. Already, there appears to be an agreement among all parties, including both the UPA and the Left, that raising of FDI caps in the insurance sector was not the priority.

While the UPA is trying to push through caps rise in both telecom (49 to 74 per cent) and airport (40 to 49 per cent), the Left has been officially protesting against both. The CPI’s soft line has exposed the fissures in the Left’s line of thinking.

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However, there is no difference of opinion on either telecom or insurance. And the Left is expected to react strongly on EPF rate and price rise. Even if the Left parties strongly demand that the EPF rate must be raised, they would not ask for anything more than 9.5 per cent. The old stand that the EPF rate be restored to 12 per cent is being discarded.

‘‘In these inflationary times, retaining an EPF rate of 9.5 per cent is a must,’’ says RSP’s Abani Roy.

On price rise, the Left would come down hard on the UPA, especially Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, as its worried that inability to keep prices under control won’t go down well with the electorate. Left sources said that FDI, EPF and the price rise issue would figure prominently tomorrow, while issues like removal of 85 items from the SSI list and the proposed board of reconstruction of PSUs are not priorities.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said: ‘‘We would obviously point out that there cannot be any unilateral interpretation of the CMP.’’

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Forward Bloc’s Debabrata Biswas said: ‘‘With the BJP trying to focus only emotive issues, it is imperative that the UPA government pay greater attention to the economic demands of the larger section of the people.’’

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