Alliance partners in the ruling coalition haven?t discarded the idea of a new common minimum programme (CMP) for the UPA government, notwithstanding the reluctance shown by the Congress on the issue.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar on Monday rejected suggestions that there would not be any CMP for the new government. ?We (the UPA) have to sit down and discuss it,? Pawar told FE. According to sources, the NCP chief, along with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, had raised the issue at the first meeting of UPA leaders after the electoral verdict.
Senior Congress leaders, however, maintain the likelihood of a CMP is remote.
The concept of a CMP was mooted by the Left parties in 2004 when the previous UPA government was formed, essentially to draw a laxman rekha over policy decisions for the pro-reform, pro-liberalisation government headed by Manmohan Singh.
The document, which became the mainstay of the UPA government as far as policies and agenda was concerned, was effectively used by Left parties to stall equity sale in navratna companies and delay deployment of pension funds in the open market. It was finally used to pull out support to the UPA on the ground that the government violated its pledge for an independent foreign policy when it signed the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Even before the Left withdrawal of support, the TRS had exited the UPA in 2006 charging it with failing to fulfill its promise of creation of Telengana, an issue mentioned in the CMP.
Uncomfortable with the prospect of facing similar hurdles in the months ahead, the Congress has resisted the suggestion for a second CMP. ?After all, 2009 is not 2004 when we only had 148 MPs. Today, we have 206 MPs,? a senior Congress minister said.
At the meeting of UPA leaders on May 20, the Congress remained evasive on the issue, merely contending that a small team was likely to be formed which would chalk out the agenda of the next government. Party circles are apprehensive that parties like the DMK and Trinamool Congress, two of the biggest allies in the UPA, might eventually insist on inclusion of specific regional demands in the CMP that could subsequently lead to differences in the ruling coalition.