Left wrestles with idea of backing Congress from outside
George Iype in New Delhi
The Left parties are debating the possibility of extending 'issue-based'
support to a Congress-led coalition government to prevent the
Bharatiya Janata party from coming to power after the Lok Sabha
elections.
The four left parties -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist,
the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party
and the Forward Bloc -- believe that the ongoing elections will catapult
into the position of the single largest bloc in the United Front.
"We feel the Left parties will emerge as the largest bloc in the
UF and therefore will guide the Front's destiny," a senior CPI
leader said.
He said if the UF strength in the Lok Sabha gets depleted against
the Congress after the elections, the Left Front will lay down
rules for the next political formation.
"No UF partner wants to join hands with a Congress government,
but we will be hard-pressed to extend outside support to the
party to keep BJP out of power," he told Rediff On the Net.
The Janata Dal with 45 seats held the vaunted position of being
the biggest group in UF after the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. But
after former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav split away
to form his own Rashtriya Janata Dal, the JD strength was reduced
to less than 30, making the CPM with 32 seats the leader of
the UF.
Left leaders fear that the shape of the UF coalition will change
after the elections as some of its regional constituents are said
to be inclined to supporting a BJP-led government.
Sources said with the conclusion of the second phase of polling on Sunday, the
BJP leadership will begin parleys with key UF partners like the
Telugu Desam Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Asom Gana
Parishad to lure them into supporting a saffron-led government at the Centre.
The three regional parties are likely to form the crucial UF numbers
in Parliament.
Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has already stated
that the AGP will not support or join a Congress-led government.
TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to
break away from the UF rather than join hands with the Congress after
the polls.
Since the UF leaders are reconciled to the prospects of the Congress
bagging more seats than the Front, the Left parties' efforts are
geared to convincing the UF allies of the need to shed their anti-Congress
sentiments.
Many believe the UF's allies will be forced to choose from two political
options soon after the elections -- either join a Congress-led government or sit in the opposition and give issue-based support to a Congress-led regime.
"We have decided that we will not take part in any coalition government
in which the Congress party is a part," CPM politbureau member
Sitaram Yechuri told Rediff On The Net.
But he said the Left parties are debating whether to provide 'principled
and issue-based support' to the Congress in an attempt to keep
the BJP at bay.
During 1969-70, the Left parties had supported the Indira Gandhi-led
Congress government on issues like the nationalisation of banks,
her garibi hatao programme and abolition of privy purses.
However, Yechuri said it is too early "to predict what is going
to happen after the elections". But his views reflect that an
outside, issue-based support to the Congress is something that
the UF partners will be forced to think about in the post-poll
scenario.
While the Left's postures are being viewed as evidence of their increasing influence
in the UF affairs, the Front constituents will be forced
to toe the Communists' line soon after the elections.
Elections '98
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