| Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's halo""after her renunciation of the prime ministership""may have slipped a bit after the recent Jharkhand and Bihar developments, but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) faces no danger of instability ""so long it keeps the Left parties satisfied on economic policy. |
| Political observers agree that if there is any silver lining for the Congress, tarnished by Bihar and Jharkhand events, it is the 2005-06 Budget, which the Left parties, by and large, have endorsed. |
| Also given the promise of continued Left support on political issues, it seems unlikely that anything will prevent the UPA government from completing its five years in the office and create the space for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to return to power at the Centre. |
| Recent political events have indicated that the Left parties prefer a political Congress to an economic one. On economic policy, the Left believes the Congress is a treacherous ally to be kept in check through constant brinkmanship. But in politics, because the BJP is a worse option than the Congress, its follies are tolerable. |
| This becomes more significant as in 2006 in Kerala and West Bengal, at least, the Congress and the Left parties are going to be ranged against each other in elections. |
| The thinking in Left circles makes a clear distinction between the political and economic agenda of the Congress. As far as economic policy is concerned, both the Congress and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are equivalent for the Left parties. |
| "The Congress is following the NDA government's policies on economic reforms. Hence, it will meet the same fate as the NDA, if they continue to do so," said a CPI(M) leader. |
| The Left is unrelenting in its opposition to unreserved liberalisation. On the amendment to the Banking Regulation Act to allow foreign banks to acquire up to 74 per cent stake in private Indian banks, the Left parties have minced no words in criticising the Congress and the Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, for ignoring the interests of domestic banks at the cost of accommodating foreign capital. |
| In the same vein, it has equated the NDA and the Congress in its criticism of the decision to allow up to 74 per cent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector. |
| The Left feels any government's strength can only be proved on the floor of the House. |
| Marking the distinction the political and economic agenda, the Left parties moved from not taking a stand on the Jharkhand issue to cautiously attacking governor Syed Sibtey Razi for "hastily" inviting Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren to form a government. |
| The Left feels any government's strength can only be proved on the floor of the House. But they do not explain how the Congress-JMM alliance was invited to form a government in Jharkhand, despite having less number of MLAs. |
| "The BJP has done the same thing (using the governor's office to its advantage) when it was in power. Look at the manner in which Nitish Kumar was invited to form a government in Bihar in 2000 despite no majority. Now that the BJP is in the opposition, they think they can be self-righteous," said a senior CPI(M) leader. |
| The Left strategy on Bihar is only slightly different. They have not openly attacked the Congress for throwing a spanner in the UPA's works. But they maintain if all the UPA constituents had fought together, President's rule could have been avoided. |
| The Left's efforts at cobbling a secular alliance whether at the Centre or in the states, is now set to take a new direction with the CPI(M)'s 18th party congress coming up in April. |
| The party has been floating the idea of a secular non-Congress and non-BJP front for a while. Holding of the party congress in Delhi, a Hindi-speaking state for the first time, is being seen as an attempt to portray a resurgence of political support for the party from the country's power centre. |
| Left's dilemma |
| Points of discord |
| What it does: |
| Political aim: |
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