Left refuses to pick up Dasmunsi's gauntlet

NEW DELHI: Playing down union minister P R Dasmunsi’s remarks that the Left was free to withdraw its support to the government, the CPM and CPI today said that the Left knows how to play its role. They also reminded the UPA government that their support to it was based on an adherence to the National Common Minimum Programme.

Rather muted in their response to the strong statement made by the minister in Kolkata, the Left parties chose to dismiss it as mere rhetoric which does not reflect the thinking of the Congress party. Instead, the two left parties said that they were playing a constructive role and wanted the government to stick to the NCMP and work for people’s interests.

Despite its tussle with the UPA over economic and foreign policy issues, the two communist parties have repeatedly made it clear that withdrawing support to the Congress-led government is not on the cards. In fact, according to CPM sources, the Left believes that snap polls may result in political equations similar to those existing now, making the process of elections futile.

Congress leaders are probably taking a cue from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had earlier asked a CPI leader why a ‘critical’ Left was not withdrawing its support. The CPI leader had replied that the Left was not thinking along those lines.

“As a political party, we take political decisions. We are fully aware of our responsibilities. We take appropriate decisions at an appropriate time,” CPM Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said, reacting to Mr Dasmunsi’s statement on Saturday.

Both Mr Yechury and Mr Raja said the Congress leader had made the comments during a debate with West Bengal minister Manab Mukherjee, who suggested that the UPA follow the Left’s economic model. “I do not take it as a serious political statement.

If it is a considered view of the Congress then it should have been spelt out by the Congress President or the prime minister,” CPI’s D Raja said. Dismissing it as an act of “playing to the gallery” by Mr Dasmunsi, Mr Raja said his words were “mere rhetoric”.

During a panel discussion on Saturday Mr Dasmunsi had said that the Left parties were free to write a letter to the President withdrawing their support, and that nobody was compelling them to continue supporting the government.

He was responding to CPM leader and West Bengal tourism minister Manab Mukherjee’s assertion that the Congress-led UPA would have to follow the Left’s model of economic development and that the survival of the central government depended on the Left.