Lalu, TRS plan pressure group, Cong in a bind

Apparently perturbed by the increasing clout of the Left parties in the government, several constituents of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) are toying with the idea of forming a separate bloc within the coalition.

Two of them""the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)""went public with their intention today. At least three more are learnt to be eager to join this front""the Nationalist Congress Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the People's Democratic Party.

Although discussions among the leaders of these parties were said to be on for several months, it was TRS leader and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao who broke the news today. He said "non-Congress, non-Left parties" would be meeting soon to review the implementation of the common minimum programme (CMP).

Rao, whose party's raison d'être, a separate Telangana state, is facing a question mark 11 months after a three-member committee headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was set up to look into it, denied any conspiracy behind the proposed meeting, saying that the move was meant to strengthen the UPA.

"We just want to make an assessment on the CMP's progress in the past 20 months. After the assessment, we will meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise them of our assessment and to make our suggestions. There is no negative angle to it," he said.

Rao's statement had an echo later in the day in Patna where RJD chief Lalu Prasad said the government had to run for five years and that there was a need for the party to review the CMP as to what needed to be done.

These developments sent Congress' crisis managers into a huddle, even as Ahmad Patel, political secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, launched a damage-control exercise, calling the leaders of the concerned political parties over telephone. His telephonic talk apparently failed to cut any ice with the RJD supremo.

The proposed meeting is likely to be held in January.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary Ambika Soni denied any cracks in the UPA terming it as "rumours". Nonetheless, said Soni, solution to any problem could be found through negotiations.

When asked about the UPA allies' discomfiture with the Left parties' clout, CPI (M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said whatever position the Left enjoyed was by virtue of its numbers. "Without that (the Left support), these people will not be ministers," he quipped.