NEW DELHI, 19 May 2005 — Much to the relief of Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav, he was not cornered at yesterday’s meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee.

Presided over by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the full-day meeting was held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence.

Ahead of the meeting, it was speculated that two of the left constituents — Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) — may press for Lalu’s resignation as charges have been framed against him in two corruption cases.

However, during the meeting, the Left bloc categorically rallied behind him. During the lunch break, asserting that there was no question of calling for Lalu’s resignation, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Sitaram Yechuri said: “NDA set a precedent and gave sanction to L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and Uma Bharati to continue in office despite being charge sheeted.”

“The matter has been made clear by prime minister himself,” Yechuri added.

The UPA yesterday sought to put up a unity show ahead of its one-year anniversary on Sunday but the daylong exercise came a cropper with the Left disowning a joint statement.

At the meeting, key ministers gave presentations and offered themselves to questioning by the Left parties.

But moments after a statement late yesterday expressed “overall satisfaction” with the year’s progress, the four Left parties backing the government from outside distanced themselves.

“We disassociate ourselves from the statement,” said CPM leader Prakash Karat. “This is not our statement. It is UPA’s statement.”

Among the issues, that the Left parties are dissatisfied at not being addressed seriously during UPA government’s first year in office are those related to the poor.

The Left bloc has also criticized the government for not taking any initiative in bringing legislations for the benefit of unorganized sector, agricultural workers, women’s reservation and unemployed sections.

With six major Gujarat riot related cases pending before the Supreme Court, the Left parties demanded that they be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

During the meeting, Manmohan said that while the government had done certain things, much more was still needed to be done to come up to people’s expectations. Sonia took note of the coalition having emerged stronger during its first year in office. — Additional input from Indo-Asian News Service