Why Left wasnt seen at swearing-in

Left leaders highly visible before May 16 were conspicuous by their absence at Manmohan Singhs swearing-in on Friday. Heres why.

Left leaders highly visible during the elections and before May 16 were conspicuous by their absence at Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs swearing-in on Friday. Heres why.

The CPI and RSP chose not to go. The Forward Bloc was not invited. From the CPM,Sitaram Yechury was the sole representative.

CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told The Indian Express that there was absolutely no reason to go. 2009,Bardhan said,was different from 2004 when he attended Manmohan Singhs first swearing-in. That time it was our ministry. We were supporting it from outside.

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Bardhan said nothing political should be read into his absence at the swearing-in this time. He however,added that he had seen Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh coming out of the function early. I heard they didnt even get proper seats, Bardhan said.

CPI national secretary D Raja said he couldnt make it because of personal reasons. His party colleague Atul Kumar Anjaan said the government hadnt seemed sufficiently keen to have the CPI.

It was not a conscious absence,but there was no consistent desire on the part of the government to ensure that everybody attends the ceremony, Anjaan said.

The RSPs Abani Roy said he stays away from such functions. The only time I attended a swearing-in was in 1996 when H D Deve Gowda became Prime Minister, Roy said.

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Forward Bloc national secretary G Devarajan said neither he nor general secretary Debabrata Biswas was invited. Only our MPs got the invite and they all are in their respective states, he said. Devarajan said he would have attended the ceremony had he got an invite.

Apart from Yechury,no other CPM leader attended. In 2004,the party was represented by then general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet.