Not in agreement with the National Democratic Alliance on disrupting Parliament over the coal blocks allocation issue, the Left parties have decided to stay away from the meeting of the Opposition parties convened by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj for Monday.
According to CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, Ms. Swaraj took the initiative for an informal meeting of the opposition leaders in her chamber to discuss the stand-off between the government and the principal opposition party, the BJP, on the CAG report on coalgate.
During informal discussions among the Left parties here on Saturday, the leaders decided to take a common stand on the issue by demanding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh be asked to face Parliament.
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“Never before has a scam broken out involving the Prime Minister. Earlier, it has been other people, so Prime Minister cannot avoid administrative and moral responsibility. He needs to explain to Parliament,” Mr. Dasgupta told
The Left parties will announce their position on Monday taking into account the situation that develops, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat said.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision not to attend the Opposition meeting, Mr. Dasgupta said since the Samajwadi Party, the Telugu Desam Party and the Biju Janata Dal had decided not to participate, it would be more of a meeting of NDA constituents. SP chief Mulayam Singh also spoke to Mr. Dasgupta in this connection.
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Mr. Dasgupta said that by allowing the deadlock to continue, the government was getting an opportunity to escape and even evade the fundamental issues like economic crisis and other problems facing the country.