Left in no mood to relent

Karat pens a congratulatory note to Karunanidhi.

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by the “rumours” that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered to resign after he was forced to keep all disinvestment decisions on hold, the Left parties said they would go ahead with their campaign against “lopsided” economic reforms.

Left leaders believe that the rumours about Prime Minister’s impending resignation were intended to boost his “sagging image.” The impression sought to be given is that Singh is feeling suffocated with coalition politics, Left sources said. For the record, the Left is not bothered by the Prime Minister’s perceived discomfiture.

Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury had called on Singh on Thursday night. Yechury came away with the impression that the PM was hurt by the DMK’s threat to quit the government, even though its ministers at the Centre did not object to disinvestment of NLC. But there was nothing to suggest that he was contemplating putting in his papers, CPM sources said.

How can people who are part of the Cabinet oppose such decisions, the Prime Minister is understood to have asked Yechury. The CPI(M) leader counselled Singh not to take controversial decisions which he may be forced to backtrack later, sources said.

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday shot off a congratulatory letter to Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi for forcing the government on backfoot. Asked what he wrote, Karat told DNA: “I just appreciated his stand.”