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Journalism of Courage
It is unlikely that the contentious FDI hike issue will dominate discussions at the next UPA-Left coordination committee meeting, slated for October 12.
The reason: There has been no official response from the government or the Finance Minister on the two notes that the Left had sent on FDI caps increase in telecom and insurance sectors in early September.
Less than 10 days ago, when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram hosted a lunch and dinner for the CPI(M) and CPI leaders on the same day, he had reportedly promised to hand over the notes in two days. But the Left did not receive the responses even as Chidambaram caught his flight for the US.
The Left parties have now been informed that the next coordination committee meeting would be held on the eve of the Maharashtra polls. By that time, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi would complete their electoral engagements and Chidambaram would return from his foreign tour.
Interestingly, even though the Congress is dilly-dallying with a ‘‘commitment’ on the FDI issue, the Left has not really voiced its anger. It appears that the Left would rather reserve its right to protest by letting these issues fester.
According to some Left leaders, they are ‘‘not really looking forward to a compromise at the moment’’. With Chidambaram promising to inject a higher percentage of FDI in these disputed sectors during his US trip, these leaders say, ‘‘compromise can hardly be expected since no one is budging from their position at the moment.’’
‘‘The FDI is not such an issue that the government will find a way out like it did in the case of the Planning Commission stalemate,’’ a Left leader said.
For the Left, climbdown, if any, would be very calibrated. And nothing can happen at the moment because it has already toned down its stand on FDI in the aviation sector. So, no progress on the FDI issue is expected at the coordination meeting on Tuesday.
