Red lines not obvious in UPA-II unlike UPA-I: P Chidambaram

BANGALORE: UPA II faced " red lines" that are not obvious unlike UPA-I but the government learnt to adjust and get the allies on board, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said.

"In UPA-1, I knew from the day one what the red lines were. I could not cross certain red lines. In UPA II frankly the red lines are not so obvious. Suddenly some new red line emerges that is the difference between UPA I and UPA II," he told reporters here.

He was apparently referring to Left parties that provided crucial outside support to UPA-I and Mamata Banerjee led TMC, which is a partner in the present regime.

However, seeking to down play differences among coalition partners, he said every party had its own political agenda and try to push it through."But as we find the new red lines we learn to adjust and we persuade people to get on board," he said.

"For example in UPA-I we had the red line we could not disinvest. We managed to cross the red line once in the NTPC disinvestment but then again they drew a thicker red line and said no you can't disinvest... So we did only NTPC and we did not do anything thereafter," he said apparently referring to Left parties' strong opposition to disinvestment of public sector undertakings.

Saying that the nuclear deal was another redline faced by UPA-I, he noted that was the breaking point. "We should try to run a coalition without reaching a breaking point," he added.