Support to UPA not for ever: CPI

Third Front at Centre is way of the future: Bardhan

The 19th congress of the CPI today began here with clear messages being sent to two major political parties at the Centre: the Left has business of its own, other than supporting the Congress, and it is more than just taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its hard-line avatars.

The sense of drama, the tempo and the rhetoric employed by CPI General Secretary Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan during his speech to a 10,000-strong crowd gathered at the city's Parade Grounds, many carrying red hammer and sickle flags, was meant to convey the volatility in the relations between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the Left parties.

For the BJP, Bardhan allowed just one concession. "The BJP is defeated but it is not broken," he said. The party congress will be officially inaugurated tomorrow at a ceremony where the leaders of all four Left parties will address the CPI delegation. Today, the congress began with a mass rally, traditionally held at the end of the huddle.

In his address, Bardhan sought to convince the audience that a Third Front at the Centre was the way of the future, provided the Left parties came together to take the responsibility of managing it.

"It cannot go on that the UPA will rule and we (Left) will support it from outside. This is a phase. This is not permanent," Bardhan said, indicating that three years from now, when the 20th CPI congress would be held, a different government could be in power at the Centre.

"We never said that our support to the government is guaranteed. We are telling the government to go with the common minimum programme. If you go away from it, then we may have to say goodbye," Bardhan said.

Bardhan's speech also sought to rap the UPA for its shortcomings on both economic and foreign policy-related issues.

On economic reforms, especially the recently-passed Patents Amendment Bill, Bardhan said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram should know that the prices of life-saving drugs would shoot through the roof because of the new law.

The latest attack on the government from the CPI, came a week after the Left grudgingly helped the government pass a Patents Bill in Parliament to meet WTO obligations.

Though it helped pass the Bill that makes it illegal to copy patented drugs, the CPI said it wanted more amendments in the legislation to ensure prices of life-saving drugs for diseases like HIV/AIDS do not suddenly rise. "We helped you pass the Patents Bill, but the last word is not said on it. We will have more amendments," Bardhan said.

The government's plans to privatise state electricity boards, and farmers' suicides in Punjab, were the other issues Bardhan brought up in his speech.

He said the party congress would pass a resolution that India should not buy F-18s or enter nuclear co-operation pacts with the US. Blaming the US for trying to spark an arms race between India and Pakistan, he said Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's response to the US offer was "very disappointing".

Although it was a comparatively sedate Bardhan from the one who had lashed out at the UPA at a mass rally in Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, recently, he nonetheless made sure that the CPI was not undermined in the government dealings with the Left.

The Left has threatened the government over a host of reforms, but has not followed up on any of its ultimatums.