CPM to mount pressure on UPA

Party too soft on Manmohan Singh govt, feels a section of left

A meeting of the CPI(M) politburo on 29 July followed by a three-day meeting of the party central committee is likely to consider new ways of bringing pressure upon the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to push through Left concerns.

Amid murmurs of criticism from some sections of the CPI(M) that the party is taking too soft a stand on the Congress-led UPA, the central committee is likely to call upon the UPA to convene a conference of chief ministers on land reforms and "" although the matter is on the State List"" take some measures to compel them to carry out further reform in land holding.

The common minimum programme says "landless families will be given land through implementation of land ceiling and land redistribution legislation".

The CPI(M) will also tell the government to ensure tribal rights on land, especially the tricky question of tribals displaced by development projects. The issue of labour law reform could also come up during the meeting.

The party will review its success in blocking any further foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector (where an amendment to increase the FDI limit is unlikely to be brought as it will be defeated in Parliament).

In civil aviation, informally the CPI(M) has warned the government that a hike in the FDI cap beyond 49 per cent will not be countenanced. The CPI and the CPI(M) had discussed the matter with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel before the FDI limit was increased from 40 per cent to 49 per cent.

But in the telecom sector, the party does have reservations and this matter will be discussed at the central committee.

In the last two weeks immediately after the Budget, while the party's trade union wing announced that the party would move cut motions in Parliament, this did not happen.

Although CPI(M) leaders like Nilotpal Basu said they expected the government to come to them to discuss the FDI issue, it was party general secretary HSSurjeet who went to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Although these are only small signals, they are symbolic in the current tug of war for turf between the UPA and the Left.

But amiably contested, it is a fight to demonstrate who, in the current dispensation, has the upper hand. The Left parties say their bottomline is clear - they will not be the ones to cause the collapse of this government. But they do expect the government to visibly and demonstrably address their concerns.