NEW DELHI, 28 August 2006 — Signaling strongly that the Congress, heading the United Progressive Alliance, should not take external support given by left parties lightly, Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist) said yesterday: “As a political party, we take political decisions. We are fully aware of our responsibilities. We take appropriate decisions at an appropriate time.”
The previous evening, during a panel discussion, union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi had said: “We are running the government at the center with left support to keep away a force from power and for safeguarding the unity of the country. The left parties are free to write a letter to the president withdrawing support. Nobody is compelling them to continue support.” Dasmunsi made these comments after West Bengal Tourism Minister Manab Mukherjee (CPI-M) said that Congress-led UPA would have to follow left’s model of economic development and survival of the central government depended on left support.
With the left hardly amused at Dasmunsi’s comments, Yechury said: “Our support to the government is based only on the CMP (Common Minimum Program) which it should strictly follow.” “The left knows how to play its role. We have been asking the government to strictly adhere to the CMP and perform in the interests of the people,” D. Raja (Communist Party of India) said. Regarding Mukherjee’s comments, which invited the provoking statement from Dasmunsi, Raja said: “It was mere rhetoric and not a political statement.” The ruling coalition “should never forget that our support is based on the pro-people commitments made in the CMP,” asserted Abani Roy (Revolutionary Socialist Party). The left parties are playing their role by keeping the government in check on several issues and opposing it whenever it has gone beyond the CMP, Roy said.
Left parties are also getting alarmed at the government’s economic policy spelling danger signals. Quoting a study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), which shows a fall of 4.14 percent in employment rate, Yechury said in his party magazine, People’s Democracy: “By no stretch of imagination, can the ASSOCHAM be considered as an organization having communist sympathies or even remotely associated with the political left.” “This (fall in employment rate) surely must be a cause for serious concern,” Yechury said. Referring to ASSOCHAM study, according to which, while contribution of unorganized sector to Gross Democratic Product had declined by 4.6 percent, its employment growth was a mere 1.12 percent, Yechury said: “Hence, the myth that the unorganized sector is more than compensating for the job loss in organized sector stands exposed.”
Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asserted in the latest issue of party mouthpiece, Congress Sandesh, that the party’s “commitment” knows no compromise. “Our commitment is to honesty and probity in public life and at this level we must not condone any compromise,” Sonia said.
In yet another development, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati was elected yesterday unopposed as the party’s national president for the second consecutive term. Her name was proposed by presidents and vice-presidents of party’s units in 20 states and supported by 970 party delegates. Elections took place in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), where BSP has a strong hold.
