Left Front toying with issue-based support

Rethinking has already started among the Left parties on whether they should subscribe to a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) or support the government on an issue-to-issue basis.

There is a large group among the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) which argues that underwriting a CMP is tantamount to joining the government.

"We supported a Congress-led government because it was unavoidable. But we have stayed away from the CMP because in our mind, there is no common ground between what the Congress wants and what the Left wants. If we endorse a CMP, why not go whole hog and join the government," said Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Abani Roy, spelling out the reasons for staying out of the CMP as well as the government.

However, this dilemma is clearly beginning to catch up with the CPI(M) now.

This was underscored by the fact that the most enthusiastic votary of joining the Congress-led government, party General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, was yesterday consulted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on how to overcome the reservations of allies over the allocation of portfolios. Normally, this is a matter handled by senior members of the Congress.

The presence of so many allies in the coalition is worrying the Congress, which is still new to the coalition experiment and the principles of give and take.

There is also apprehension that the whole exercise of forming a coalition with the Left parties could lead to the Congress being rendered toothless in states where they were not strong to start with.

However, most worrisome was the actions of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav. In a capricious move, Laloo left for Patna after two meetings with Gandhi, sulking because he was denied the home portfolio.

But RJD leaders said they recognised the fact that the Congress was more important to them than they were to the Congress.

"If Laloo decided that it is either the home ministry or outside support to the government, it is not the Congress that will have a problem. It is we who will have ushered Mulayam Singh Yadav to the Congress," said a prominent RJD leader, who was in Delhi.

The DMK yesterday virtually decided that TR Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran would be the party's nominees for Central ministerships, although four top leaders of the DMK rushed to Delhi from Chennai, including Karunanidhi's son Stalin and party General Secretary K Anbazhagan.

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha, gave positive indications that it would join the government. Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party was bargaining hard to get more than one ministerial berth.

Their are chances that in a day or two the Left will present its own proposals for the CMP to the Congress. If the Left is disappointed by the Congress's CMP, it may decide to support the government only when there is an agreement on issues. This could make the centre of gravity in the alliance, a little wobbly.