PM woos Left to buy peace, finds them good listeners

Surjeet has been Manmohan Singh’s ally over the years and there was a quiet understanding between the two while Surjeet was the arbiter of CPI(M)’s policies. But since Prakash Karat took over, the Prime Minister himself had become the target of the Left’s attack; earlier they had gunned for Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

But in the past few days, the Left has toned down its criticism of the PM and of the Government. It was not so strident on the Nanavati Report or the nuclear agreement with the US as it had been on earlier occasions, and at the end of the day he got their support. CPI leader D Raja congratulated the PM on his Independence Day speech.

The Prime Minister knows he would need the support of the Left parties on a wide range of issues in the coming weeks — like subsidies in the power sector, managing the Budget deficit, hiking petrol prices, taking initiatives to combat the Naxalites and to further the peace process in Kashmir and the North-East.

Besides vibing well with Surjeet, Jyoti Basu and Sitaram Yechury, the Prime Minister has an ally in West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is believed to be impatient with some of his colleagues in Delhi for their stand on disinvestment, VAT and FDI in the retail sector. Bhattacharjee got an impressive package from the Centre a couple of months ago for various pending projects in the state which are important for him in the run-up to the state elections next year.

The Left parties have, however, made it clear to the PM that they will not participate in the UPA Coordination Committee till the disinvestment in BHEL is shelved. For the moment the Congress has put it on hold.

The Government’s decision on BHEL was a result of the stand the Left parties took at the time of the Budget when Chidambaram decided on FDI in the telecom and insurance sectors, say Manmohan aides. According to sources in the Government, the Left parties had indicated they would oppose FDI in insurance if the matter came before Parliament but that they might just go along with FDI in the telecom sector which was not required to come before Parliament.

This apparently was an important signal to the PM — that he did not have to consult them when an issue was not required to come before Parliament and the BHEL decision was just a Cabinet decision. ‘‘If the Left parties want to influence the decision of the Cabinet, they should join it,’’ sources in the Government said.