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Friday, Jun 20, 2008
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Congress, Left reach out to allies

Anita Joshua

Talks likely ahead of UPA-Left panel meet

NEW DELHI: With both sides firming up their positions on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, the Congress and the Left on Thursday reached out to other constituents of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to ascertain their stand.

While a formal meeting of the ruling alliance is not being ruled out ahead of the next meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee scheduled for June 25, every effort is being made by senior Congress leaders to get all allies on board. Simultaneously, communication channels were kept open with the Left parties as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury late in the evening.

Meanwhile, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has sent a confidential communication to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M. Karunanidhi. According to informed sources, the letter was sent through Union Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu who met her on Wednesday. It is learnt that the communication is part of the current effort to garner the allies’ support for the deal.

Take allies along: Lalu

Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad was the first ally to throw in his lot with the Congress. Soon after a meeting with Mr. Yechury, Mr. Prasad said: “Governments come and go. Nuclear power is a requirement and must be created for the next generation.” At the same time, he stressed the need to take all the allies along.

This view was echoed by the Nationalist Congress Party after its president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar met Mr. Mukherjee. Maintaining that the NCP was with the government on the deal — “the best that India could have got under the circumstances” — party spokesman D.P. Tripathi told The Hindu that every effort should be made to build a consensus. Asked whether the NCP favoured an early election should things come to such a pass, he was non-committal.

Meanwhile, CPI national secretary D. Raja spoke to Mr. Karunanidhi to apprise him about the Left position. “I suggested that he speak to the Congress and ask why it was precipitating matters.” Stating that the Left position was consistent, Mr. Raja said that if the Congress went ahead with the deal, the Left parties would be forced to reconsider its support to the UPA. He added that the Left parties, too, would speak to the constituents of the UPA. “They are not just allies of the Congress, but our partners also.”

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