Taken aback by Govt move, Left puts up brave face

It was CPI’s D. Raja who had broached the issue at the breakfast table. Singh, according to the Left leaders, made it absolutely clear that the Government had only just found a way out of the stalemate resulting from the Left protest. If any fresh consultative mechanism had to be evolved, it would be done in due course.

CPI(M) Politburo member, Sitaram Yechury told reporters, ‘‘We are satisfied.’’ He was commenting specifically on the Planning Commission issue. Forward Bloc and RSP leaders, Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy reacted along the same lines. Yechury even went on to say that the plan panel issue ‘‘had been blown out of proportion’’. He felt it was now for the Planning Commission to decide what kind of fresh consultations it would prefer.

Roy agreed that stretching the issue further would be of no use. ‘‘Our demand has been met. Now we can’t expect the Government to appoint our people in new committees. The Planning Commission has every right to do what it likes as long as these foreign agencies are not represented on the in-house committees of the Commission.’’

Even Yechury tried to look unruffled. Asked if the CPI(M) would feel deprived if Left-leaning economists are not consulted at all, Yechury pointed out that the Left commanded the support of 61 MPs and could always participate in discussions on these issues on the floor of Parliament.

The Prime Minister had hosted the breakfast for Left leaders essentially to brief his allies on what he achieved during his recent tour abroad. National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit was also present at the briefing. Special emphasis was laid on Indo-Pak relations and the PM’s meeting with Pakistan President Musharraf.

Meanwhile, the Left has also resigned to the fact that the UPA-Left coordination committee meeting has been deferred because of the forthcoming elections in Maharashtra. Left sources said Singh told them he would try to hold the meeting on October 11. If that was not possible, the Left leaders would have to wait for a dialogue on pending issues like FDI caps hike till new governments were installed in Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh.

Later, a few hours after the breakfast meeting, addressing a Left students’ union convention in the Capital, Yechury insisted that the Government could not run without Left support. ‘‘There is a secular government at the Centre which cannot run even for a single day without communist support. And when we are lending it support, it has to pay heed to our concerns and follow our suggestions on policy matters,’’ Yechury said. He claimed that the education cess would not have been levied if the Left had not influenced the government’s policies.