Menon makes exception, Left 038; right

In a departure from convention, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met senior BJP leader L K Advani...

In a departure from convention, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met senior BJP leader L K Advani and also held a wide-ranging consultation with CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury.

While foreign office top brass do maintain contact with political leaders, it is usually over the phone. Menon made exception by visiting both the leaders.

Menon8217;s visit to the CPM HQ assumes significance because in a couple of days Yechury is to visit China with a party delegation.

Menon is a former ambassador to Beijing. During former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee8217;s visit to China, when both countries agreed on appointing special representatives to address the complex boundary issue from a political perspective, Menon was closely involved in the difficult diplomatic exercise.

The Left parties have been critical of what they call 8220;selective discrimination8221; by the Indian government against Chinese companies that has barred them from winning infrastructure projects on security considerations.

This could be a source of embarrassment, given that Chinese President Hu Jintao will be visiting India on November 19 or 20.

It is against this backdrop that Menon discussed India-China relations with the CPIM leader.

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The meeting was not at the Left8217;s initiative, but part of the government8217;s efforts to keep the Left in the loop on key issues. Sources said Menon had come to familiarise himself with the Left, but could actually be using his wide personal connections with political leaders to play the role of a political manager on behalf of the government to keep political parties in the loop on foreign policy matters, especially those pertaining to China, Pakistan and countries in India8217;s neighbourhood.

Yechury will be leaving on a weeklong trip to China with a CPI central committee delegation on September 15 in what is evidently preparation for Jintao8217;s visit.

It will enable Indians to use unofficial channels to make an assessment of the Chinese situation through the Left8217;s party-to-party contacts with the Communist Party of China.

The CPM members are expected to meet standing committee and politburo members of the CPC, even though their itinerary has not yet been finalised.

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Accompanying Yechury in the five-member CPM delegation will be Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar.

Menon8217;s trip to the CPI headquarters was also the occasion to touch upon the joint terror mechanism with Pakistan on which apprehensions have been raised by the BJP, but there has been continued support from the Left.