Top CPI(M) leaders, Prakash Karat, and Sitaram Yechury, are meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this afternoon apparently to convey that the Left parties are not willing to go back on their stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Congress president and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, and External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who has always played a key role in defusing tensions with the Left, would also be present at the crucial meeting.
Left leaders have made it known that the minimum they expected from the government was that the civil nuclear deal which has been outrightly rejected by them earlier is not operationalised.
Karat and Yechury are meeting Singh at the end of the party's two-day Politburo meeting which deliberated on its strategy in dealing with the stand-off with the government over the contentious deal. In the midst of the Politburo meeting, CPI(M) leaders have already held consultations with other Left parties apparently to convey their united opposition to the deal during the meeting with the Prime Minister.
The meeting with the Prime Minister also comes ahead of a press conference by Karat this evening where he is expected to announce the party's strategy in the wake of the government's decision to go ahead with the deal.
The CPI(M) was of the view that the government has deviated from the Common Minimum Programme commitments of pursuing an independent foreign policy, and is sharply critical of the Congress-led coalition for entering into a strategic partnership with "imperialist" America.
Other Left parties are more strident in their demand for reviewing support to the government with CPI General Secretary, A B Bardhan, saying that it has become "untenable" and the Left should extend "merit-based" support now.
He feels that the UPA-Left Coordination Committee, the mechanism so far being used for consultations on key issues, has become "dead" and there is no point in carrying forward with it.
CPI(M) likely to reveal strategy
With the Indo-US nuclear deal causing serious strains in the Left ties with the UPA government, CPI(M) is expected to reveal its strategy by this evening amid suggestions from allies that it was time to re-define ties and extend merit-based support. While CPI(M) leaders have made it clear that they would not withdraw their support to the UPA coalition, Left leaders have been maintaining that the minimum they expect from the government was that it should not operationalise the deal.
In the midst of the two-day Polit Bureau meeting of the Marxist party, which has the largest Left component of 43 MPs in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted a private dinner for senior party leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Senior Congress leader and Union Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, a known trouble-shooter of the ruling alliance, was also present at the dinner meeting. The standoff between the Left and the government worsened last week in the wake of Prime Minister's interview in which he dared the key supporting parties to withdraw support to the Congress-led coalition.
RSP leader, Abani Roy, said it is "high-time" that the Left review its support to the government, otherwise it will become a "laughing stock" among the people.
"Something should be done. Either pull out from the UPA-Left Coordination Committee or make the support issue-based," said Roy, whose party is a minor constituent of the Left bloc having three MPs in Lok Sabha.
Congress president and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, and External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who has always played a key role in defusing tensions with the Left, would also be present at the crucial meeting.
Left leaders have made it known that the minimum they expected from the government was that the civil nuclear deal which has been outrightly rejected by them earlier is not operationalised.
Karat and Yechury are meeting Singh at the end of the party's two-day Politburo meeting which deliberated on its strategy in dealing with the stand-off with the government over the contentious deal. In the midst of the Politburo meeting, CPI(M) leaders have already held consultations with other Left parties apparently to convey their united opposition to the deal during the meeting with the Prime Minister.
The meeting with the Prime Minister also comes ahead of a press conference by Karat this evening where he is expected to announce the party's strategy in the wake of the government's decision to go ahead with the deal.
The CPI(M) was of the view that the government has deviated from the Common Minimum Programme commitments of pursuing an independent foreign policy, and is sharply critical of the Congress-led coalition for entering into a strategic partnership with "imperialist" America.
Other Left parties are more strident in their demand for reviewing support to the government with CPI General Secretary, A B Bardhan, saying that it has become "untenable" and the Left should extend "merit-based" support now.
He feels that the UPA-Left Coordination Committee, the mechanism so far being used for consultations on key issues, has become "dead" and there is no point in carrying forward with it.
CPI(M) likely to reveal strategy
With the Indo-US nuclear deal causing serious strains in the Left ties with the UPA government, CPI(M) is expected to reveal its strategy by this evening amid suggestions from allies that it was time to re-define ties and extend merit-based support. While CPI(M) leaders have made it clear that they would not withdraw their support to the UPA coalition, Left leaders have been maintaining that the minimum they expect from the government was that it should not operationalise the deal.
In the midst of the two-day Polit Bureau meeting of the Marxist party, which has the largest Left component of 43 MPs in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted a private dinner for senior party leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Senior Congress leader and Union Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, a known trouble-shooter of the ruling alliance, was also present at the dinner meeting. The standoff between the Left and the government worsened last week in the wake of Prime Minister's interview in which he dared the key supporting parties to withdraw support to the Congress-led coalition.
RSP leader, Abani Roy, said it is "high-time" that the Left review its support to the government, otherwise it will become a "laughing stock" among the people.
"Something should be done. Either pull out from the UPA-Left Coordination Committee or make the support issue-based," said Roy, whose party is a minor constituent of the Left bloc having three MPs in Lok Sabha.
Via: The Hindu
