| If politics is the business of compromises, then independent India's most striking example of contrasting ideologies cohabiting must be the Congress-Left Central machinery. The alliance partners say that the UPA Government will survive its full term till 2009, but there is controlled bitterness between the partners which was sporadically reflected last month. With the Budget session of Parliament opening this week, the sparring between the alliance parties is only expected to intensify. While the Congress may appear to have ignored the Left's resistance to its policies of liberalisation, including allowing up to 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail of single brand products, the communists aren't about to waste the historic opportunity offered to them by the 2004 general elections in which they recordered their highest ever tally of 62 Lok Sabha seats. In the Left camps, the decibel of protestations against the decisions of the Government is on the rise, quite obviously due to impending polls in Kerala and West Bengal. The Left Front is certain it will win both states and subsequently enhance its bargaining ability at the Centre. "The political situation will worsen for the Congress after the assembly elections; that party has already lost power in Karnataka in a silly manner and does not have much to look towards," says CPI(M) Politburo member M.K. Pandhe. Better co-ordination among left parties on important public issues ahead of the polls is not the only perceptible problem for the Congress. But these days, other socialist forces, largely the regional parties, no longer sit on fences and watch the show. For instance, the Samajwadi Party (SP), which supports the ruling coalition from outside, is strategising with the Left on the question of India's vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting on March 6. SP leaders had said last week that they were planning to move a no-confidence motion in the Budget session of Parliament since Delhi had opposed Iran at the IAEA board on February 3. However, earlier this week, their meeting with CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat appears to have influenced their thought. "I understand the SP will not move such a motion," Karat later said. It has now been decided that under Rule 193, Parliament will discuss the Government's stand on Iran before the next IAEA voting. With the BJP backing the Government on the matter, the Congress is unlikely to do much explaining inside Parliament. The CPI(M) Politburo alleged that the UPA Government is only following the pro-US agenda of the former NDA government. But on March 2 when US President George W. Bush will be in Delhi, the Centre may be a little embarrassed by the Left's black-flag protests. To intimidate the Congress leadership, left parties are tossing around the third alternative theory, which is being supplemented by regional parties, including those so far considered improbable cohorts like the TDP and AIADMK. CPI National Secretary D. Raja says, "Congress leaders know we will not hesitate in joining forces with other parties against policies of the Government." A terse UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence was held on February 13 where Karat told Congress President Sonia Gandhi that the UPA Government's image had suffered due to "unilateral" decisions by her party. However, the Congress understands that the Third Front theory is only public posturing without any political rationale. It is clear that with prospects of its victory in Kerala brightening, the Left Front is confidently hammering the Congress in Delhi. Having opposed the Congress-led state Government's modernisation projects for the past five years, the CPI(M)'s Kerala unit is going the West Bengal way, promising electors that it will revise its position on the Rs 6,500 crore express highway mission, which it had opposed earlier. "When they are in the Opposition, they block all developmental projects," says Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Pradesh Congress president. However, not every Left tactic is a clincher. The Left-supported Airports Authority of India Employees Union's strike against modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports had to be called off within three days following public outrage and the Governnment sticking to its guns. The nationwide strike at airports that affected operations and flight schedules began on February 1 and was expected to stay on for a while, but ended three days later after Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel spoke to Pandhe and CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta. However enthused Left leaders may be about "extracting" promises from the Government, air users did not seem to sympathise with them after being stranded in dirty airports for three days. That the Government intended to send a message across to the Left that it cannot be pushed beyond a point was clear when on the second day of the strike, the Centre awarded the contracts for modernisation of both the airports to two private consortiums. The Budget session will witness the usual action from the Left benches. A joint wish-list for the coming Union Budget has already been presented by the CPI, CPI(M), RSP and the Forward Bloc to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Former RBI governor and MP Bimal Jalan who, along with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, debated the merits and demerits of the Left proposals with CPI and All-India Trade Union Congress leaders last week, says, "Even the Left wants what everybody wants-growth and development. Legitimate differences erupt in the means of achieving the objectives." But as CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said after the meeting, the differences will remain. Barring demands on increasing social sector spending, North Block is not likely to incorporate other Left wishes including restoration of the capital gains tax, increase in securities transaction tax and imposing surcharge on shopping malls at a time when the BSE sensitive index has crossed the 10,000 mark. For Chidambaram, though, raising the expenditure on education, health and employment is inevitable not because of the Left pressure but because Sonia herself is keen that her party is constantly perceived as being close to the common man. -with M.G. Radhakrishnan
Index
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Iran's Nuclear Programme: Left opposes India going with the US and EU-3 in the IAEA board. With the BJP on its side, the Congress can sail through a debate in Parliament.
