Left doesn’t want to ‘make a fool’ of itself

NEW DELHI: The Left finally appears to have delinked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed visit to Tokyo for the G8 summit from the withdrawal of support on the larger issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Left parties have been facing criticism that such a move will lower the prestige of not only the Prime Minister but the nation as a whole.

After a meeting on Wednesday with CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI chief AB Bardhan indicated that the PM travelling to the  G8 summit on July 7 may not trigger a Left pullout.

The Left would make a “fool of ourselves” if it withdraws support before a formal statement from the government that it intended to go ahead with the deal, Bardhan said, suggesting that Left’s stand should be delinked from the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit. “If the government says they have not gone ahead with the deal, we will make a fool of ourselves,” he said.

“I do not see any link between the G-8 summit and the nuclear deal,” he said. When reminded of Karat’s ultimatum, he shot back, “If you want to get more clarifications on that statement, ask Karat.” Bardhan suggested that Left parties will wait till Singh’s return to withdraw support on the issue.

“When the PM is abroad, it (withdrawing support) is not proper.  He is there (Japan) and we withdrawing support...We may wait. It is a matter  of courtesy,” he said.  

Sources said Karat, politburo member Sitaram Yechury, Bardhan, SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh are also thinking on the lines of the Samajwadi Party (SP) bailing out the UPA government to keep “communal forces” at bay in the event of a trust vote on the nuclear deal.

But while the SP may be warming to the Congress, its bitter rival over the past few years, the realignment of the political spectrum is not without misgivings on either side.
Mulayam & Co are wary of losing Muslim support to the BSP led by Mayawati, who has already accused the SP of letting down minorities by supporting the Congress.

And there is a discernible anxiety among the Congress ministers who fear they might have to make way to accommodate the SP nominees in the government.

The Left and UNPA sources, however, said if the SP supported the government maintaining that it wanted to keep “the communal forces” out of power, it won’t alienate the Muslims. Also, it will give Mulayam an option to return to the third front after the 2009 general elections if the number game permits.

Senior TDP leader Yerran Naidu, who had met Amar Singh, said the SP general secretary explained that his party was compelled to back the Congress as it was facing the brunt of Mayawati rule in Uttar Pradesh. The SP also suspects a tacit BSP-BJP understanding in UP.

Naidu also hinted that Mulayam Singh Yadav could be projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the third front.

UNPA leaders Chandrababu Naidu, Om Prakash Chautala, Farooq Abdullah, Babu Lal Marandi and others are expected to take stock of the political situation on Thursday. Mulayam and Amar Singh will brief them of their parleys with Congress managers and national security adviser MK Narayanan, who briefed Amar Singh on Wednesday.

Karat has been the most ardent advocate of withdrawing support if Manmohan Singh went to G8 where he would be meeting George Bush on the sidelines.

But in an effort to contain damage to the secular camp, Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s emissary Yerran Naidu had talks with CPI general secretary AB Bardhan on Wednesday.

Later, Bardhan tried to convince Karat of the need to prolong the withdrawal of support till the government sealed the deal at Vienna so that elections could be delayed.
Meanwhile, the DMK expressed hope that the Left parties would not do anything “harmful” to the UPA government and “leave room for the communal forces”.

The SP, on the other hand, has also begun winning over hardline elements within its party like former UP minister Azam Khan and diehard socialists like Janeshwar Misra, who are not very comfortable with the idea of a tie-up with the Congress.

Mulayam and Amar Singh drove to Mishra’s house on Wednesday and spent over an hour with him in an effort to bring him around.

Azam Khan has been a trenchant critic of the Congress and also has some strong views about the US. He has never openly opposed Mulayam and the SP chief is personally working on the former minister to get him to support the party’s stand.