Left attacks PM's defence of Montek

Left parties today accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being "blissfully unaware of the sensibilities of its allies" for defending Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's decision to involve multilateral agencies like the World Bank in reviewing the Tenth Five Year Plan.

"He is not aware of the compulsions of coalition politics. It is most unfortunate that the Prime Minister has come to the defence of the Planning Commission deputy chairman," said senior CPI(M) leader and Rajya Sabha Member Nilotpal Basu.

The CPI echoed the CPI(M)'s position. "We do not share the Prime Minister's viewpoint. This is likely to be brought up at the next United Progressive Alliance-Left coordination meeting," said D Raja, secretary of the CPI's National Council.

The Left parties said they were not opposed to multilateral agencies being consulted, but were firmly opposed to the formal inclusion of World Bank employees in the Planning Commission. Basu said Ahluwalia's defence of the move was "childish".

"If the commission just wants inputs from these agencies, then what is the need to formally include them," he asked.