The floor leaders of the Left parties yesterday expressed their reservation on the opening up of the health insurance sector to the Indian companies at a meeting with Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and finance minister P Chidambaram.
The Left and other leaders present at the meeting were assured by Chidambaram.
The government has an open mind on the reservations raised by certain Front partners, particularly the Left parties, Janata Dal working president Sharad Yadav quoted Chidambaram as having told the meeting.
The government was considering ways to accommodate the reservations of the Left parties and some other UF constituents on the budget, he said.
Parliamentary affairs minister Shrikant Jena and floor leaders of other United Front (UF) constituents were also present at the meeting that took place at the Prime Ministers 7, Race Course Road residence. It lasted for over two hours.
It was decided at the last meeting of the UF steering committee that the floor leaders of the Front partners would meet finance minister P Chidambaram and have detailed discussion on budget provisions that their parties opposed. The meeting was to take place in Jenas chamber in the Parliament House.
However, with the Prime Minister himself deciding to attend, the venue was shifted to 7, Race Course road.
Senior Left leaders had last week pressed for a full steering committee meeting on the budget. They argued that their leaders would be able to present the partys views at the steering committee which was not possible in the floor leaders meeting.
The United Front leaders also discussed the strategy to be adopted to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-sponsored motion in the Lok Sabha seeking recall of Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari.
The meeting was of the view that the matter did not pertain to only an individual, but involved the institution of the Governors office, and therefore, decided to give a befitting reply to the BJP move. Asked whether the question of recall of the governor at a later stage was being considered, Yadav said, The question did not arise.
Yesterdays meeting assumed significance in the light of criticism by the Left parties that the budget was elitist.
Some members expressed their opposition over the government decision to de-reserve certain areas like biscuits and ice-cream which were hitherto fully reserved for the small-scale industries sector. The Samajwadi Party leader and defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav gave a detailed account of the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh at the meeting.
