Left may support UPA on conditions
The Left may soon redefine its relations with the UPA. Trying to work out strategies to distance themselves from the Manmohan Singh government, the Left is likely to consider scaling down its support to a “conditional” one.
By Amita Shah, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The Left may soon redefine its relations with the UPA. Trying to work out strategies to distance themselves from the Manmohan Singh government, the Left is likely to consider scaling down its support to a “conditional” one. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the four Left parties on August 7, just three days ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament.
The meeting, which is expected to send out a “shape-up” message to the government, will suggest the winding up of the coordination panel — a mechanism that has become dysfunctional in the past 10 months.
The latest decision is dictated by local considerations. With the Congress on the ascendancy in Kerala and coordinating affairs with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the closeness with the party at the Centre is seen to be politically prohibitive.
The Left, which has been explaining its association with the Congress as something dictated by its concern for “secularism”, holds that the logic may not hold in the face of a declining BJP.
But that the Left has no real political option outside the current arrangement is being acknowledged by the CPM. It is this assessment that prompted the CPM to reject suggestions to review its ties with the Congress. At the same time, there is considerable unease in the Left that its views on economic and foreign policy issues rarely get the government’s attention.
In the immediate run, however, the Left does not seem to have any plan to complicate matters for the government. And it’s willing to keep its opposition to issues such as the nuclear deal within politically-permissible limits.
The upcoming meeting of the Left leaders will have to assess how far it can go in shielding the government on the nuclear deal. A new element was introduced by the UNPA by announcing its decision to oppose the deal in Parliament. Any overt backing for the Manmohan Singh government’s position can invite the charge of abandoning a long-held political position for expediency.
Its anxiety to tell the faithful that its anti-US position was intact was evident from the decision to hold rallies against joint naval exercises with the US, Japan and Australia. Incidentally, the country has been holding such exercises with these countries for the past two decades.
The Left’s recent attempts to mobilise opinion against the visit of USS Nimitz had failed miserably. That the government is just not impressed is clear from the clearance given to the visit of another US vessel — USS Kitty Hawk, along with USS Nimitz.
The meeting, which is expected to send out a “shape-up” message to the government, will suggest the winding up of the coordination panel — a mechanism that has become dysfunctional in the past 10 months.
The latest decision is dictated by local considerations. With the Congress on the ascendancy in Kerala and coordinating affairs with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the closeness with the party at the Centre is seen to be politically prohibitive.
The Left, which has been explaining its association with the Congress as something dictated by its concern for “secularism”, holds that the logic may not hold in the face of a declining BJP.
But that the Left has no real political option outside the current arrangement is being acknowledged by the CPM. It is this assessment that prompted the CPM to reject suggestions to review its ties with the Congress. At the same time, there is considerable unease in the Left that its views on economic and foreign policy issues rarely get the government’s attention.
In the immediate run, however, the Left does not seem to have any plan to complicate matters for the government. And it’s willing to keep its opposition to issues such as the nuclear deal within politically-permissible limits.
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The upcoming meeting of the Left leaders will have to assess how far it can go in shielding the government on the nuclear deal. A new element was introduced by the UNPA by announcing its decision to oppose the deal in Parliament. Any overt backing for the Manmohan Singh government’s position can invite the charge of abandoning a long-held political position for expediency.
Its anxiety to tell the faithful that its anti-US position was intact was evident from the decision to hold rallies against joint naval exercises with the US, Japan and Australia. Incidentally, the country has been holding such exercises with these countries for the past two decades.
The Left’s recent attempts to mobilise opinion against the visit of USS Nimitz had failed miserably. That the government is just not impressed is clear from the clearance given to the visit of another US vessel — USS Kitty Hawk, along with USS Nimitz.
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