The CPI(M) has no intention of withdrawing support to the UPA government at the Centre, but its criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comments is aimed at putting pressure on the government to change the modalities of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, according to Biman Bose, the party’s politbureau member and secretary of the West Bengal unit.
“It is not our policy to topple the government but we want to change them,” Bose told reporters at the Alimuddin Street headquarters before leaving for Delhi to attend the CPI(M)’s politbureau meeting scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is already in Delhi and is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister over dinner Thursday.
Bose was caustic about the Prime Minister’s comment in a newspaper interview that the Left should learn how to run a coalition.
“The Prime Minister has not completed even one term; here we have been running a coalition for six terms,” Bose said. “He should learn from us, how to run a coalition.”
Initially, Friday’s politbureau meeting was to have discussed issues like the party’s congress and various conferences with an eye on organizational elections.
Now, all these issues have been put on the backburner by the worsening of relations with the UPA government caused by the Prime Minister’s comment.
Md Salim, a CPI(M) member of Parliament and party central committee member, when contacted by FE, said the Chief Minister’s dinner with the Prime Minister is important but it will be up to the politbureau to decide a strategy.
“There is nothing wrong in the Chief Minister having dinner with the PM. Prakash Karat (party general secretary) has had breakfast with the PM,” said Salim, who is in Delhi.
“There was no point in having the dinner meeting on Friday, since the politbureau meeting begins tomorrow morning,” Salim said.
Salim said the CPI(M) support to the UPA government is based on three components —- fighting communalism, economic policies and foreign policy — apart from the political situation.
Salim said the CPI(M)’s only demand was that the UPA should not operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, as this could take things beyond the common minimum programme (CMP) on the basis of which the party supports the UPA from the outside.
Sources in Alimuddin Street said Bose spoke to Karat and some other Delhi-based members of the politbureau before leaving for the capital. He is then reported to have told other Alimuddin bosses that the party is keen on a formula to settle the row created over the prime minister’s comment.
Meanwhile, while the party’s West Bengal unit is aware that their leadership has no intention of toppling the UPA government, it will continue with a plan to organize public opinion against the nuclear deal and the US in general.
Former Chief minister Jyoti Basu will be the only politbureau member from the state who will not be attending Friday’s meeting as he is ailing. The state unit will be represented by the other two, Bhattacharjee and Bose.