UPA panel yet to take shape

Coordination committee will create more problems than solutions, feel Congress leaders

Another day's delay in the setting up of the co-ordination committee between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the four Left parties supporting the government from outside, indicates the reluctance of the UPA constituents as well as the Congress in announcing those who will constitute the panel.

Only Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's names have been cleared for the committee so far.

Crucial decisions like whether smaller parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi would be on the co-ordination committee, in what proportion they would be represented on it and whether the recommendations of this committee would be binding upon the Cabinet, were yet to be taken and would be decided only after the Prime Minister had had a chance to consider the issue, Congress leaders said yesterday.

According to a senior UPA minister, the matter has been discussed at length at various meetings of the council of ministers as well as the within the Congress.

Initially, it was felt that there was really no need for the co-ordination committee with the Left and that as chairman of the UPA, Sonia Gandhi had the mandate to speak to the Left parties.

"Actually, it was felt that since Gandhi was already the chairman of the UPA, with a national advisory council under her, there was no need for another co-ordination committee," said the minister.

Not just that, the government felt that there were too many levels at which decisions had to be cleared in the UPA government without adding another committee to the list.

"The Left parties are being heard in the forum of the UPA, we do not need a super Cabinet, which the co-ordination committee might just turn out to be," the minister added.

In fact, some UPA constituents felt that the Left was being given undue importance. "We are already more than 200 in number, while the Left has 60 MPs, despite support from outside, they are the most heard in the government," the minister said.

Already the UPA government and the Left have had run-ins on issues such as airport privatisation and increasing the foreign direct investment limit in the insurance and telecommunication sectors.

This the reason why, despite the Left parties meeting Prime Minister on the issue the Congress is taking its time to set up such a committee.

"The Opposition pressure in Parliament is such that the Left's support in floor co-ordination is crucially needed in the second half of the Budget session, the government does not want the next session to be as stormy," he said.

According a senior Congress leader, some UPA constituents, in fact, feel that there are too many committees, unlike the NDA regime where the Bharatiya Janata Party was the dominant party and the others fell in even at the NDA's own forum.

The Congress does not want to take any chances with the stability of the government, even if it has to climb down on several issues.

But it is equally conscious that the existence of a co-ordination committee can cut both ways""while it might keep the Left happy, leading it to believe it would be doing backseat driving in the government, it is absolutely clear that the committee cannot supersede the government.

UPA ministers feel a committee (which was incidentally the demand voiced by the Congress earlier but rejected by the Left) such as this could create more problems than solve.

Hypothetically, if the co-ordination committee had made recommendations on the Union Budget and if those recommendations had not been accepted, how would the problem have been addressed?