PM breaks the ice with Left over breakfast

Left assured of new method of consultation for mid-term review of 10th Plan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's breakfast diplomacy worked wonders today. Gone was the animosity generated over the issue of foreign consultants in the Planning Commission. Forgotten was the bitterness over the 'betrayal' over the hike in foreign direct investment (FDI) caps.

After they dug into the south Indian food "" dosas, idlies, upma and uthapams "" served at the breakfast meet, the CPM's Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury, the CPI's D Raja, the RSP's Abani Roy and Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc appeared satisfied by Singh's account of his visit to the US and the UK.

Last night, of course, it was a different story. The CPI and the CPM were wary, wondering what to make of the government's decision to dismiss their supporters, along with the representatives of foreign multilateral agencies, from the Plan panels.

But this morning, the Prime Minister went out of his way to convey to the Left that he valued its inputs on governance and that he wanted it on board intellectually, if not physically.

When Raja enquired about the government's "next move", Singh told the Left leaders that a new mechanism of consultation that would take their views into account would soon be worked out for the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan.

The communists congratulated the prime minister on his trip abroad and told him he was on the right track. The absence of reference to cross-border terrorism in the joint statement that had agitated the BJP did not appear to bother the Left leaders much.

"The prime minister and Musharraf met for just one hour. How could they have discussed everything ? The BJP is very wrong is raising this," they said.

On his talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Singh said he had made it clear that insurgency in Kashmir could only be looked at as cross-border terrorism. He had told US President George Bush that India's parliamentary resolution on Iraq remained unchanged, leading to cheers from the Left.

The Left leaders said the signing of the joint declaration with President Pervez Musharraf in the US was a step forward in the bilateral ties between the two countries after the January 6 talks with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. They also told Singh that his move to get permanent representation in the UN Security Council was "a significant step forward".

As the repast ended, the leaders discussed the dates of the next co-ordination meeting between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Left.

Since both the UPA and the Left will be campaigning in Maharashtra for the upcoming polls in the state, a decision was reached to schedule the meeting after October 13, when polls are due in Maharashtra, or to have it on October 11, the last date for campaigning for national leaders.

The Left leaders emerged smiling from the breakfast meeting and admonished the media for causing problems in their relationship with the UPA. Apparently, all it took to mollify them was a meal with the prime minister.