New Delhi: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's speech in Haryana has ruffled feathers in the Left. Both sides are now on a damage control mode. CPI-M veteran Jyoti Basu says he has conveyed to party leaders Congress concerns on withdrawal of support.
Talking to CNN-IBN, Jyoti Basu said panel chief Pranab Mukherjee had met him personally to seek Left's continued support.
“Pranab came and met me yesterday. He told me we shouldn't bring down the Government. “I've conveyed Pranab's message to Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat. I appreciate what Sonia Gandhi said at the UN but what she said on Sunday wasn't right. If need arises, we are ready for the polls,” Basu said.
CPI-M Polit Bureau Sitaram Yechury said, “We have already stated our opinion. Those who want to oppose it can oppose it. Eventually in a democracy it is the people who will decide.”
Meanwhile, there are differences in views on mid-term polls in UPA, in fact also within the Congress.
Efforts are on both within the UPA and Left camps to avoid a showdown.
Within the Congress itself, there are two approaches. One group is suggesting that there's no point taking a risk by going for a snap poll just now.
It is the pressure from this group, which was behind Sonia going back on her all-out attack on the Left on Sunday. Even among the allies, not everybody is keen to face the electorate.
The Rajya Sabha MPs who don't have to face the electorate are those who are pleading for polls.
The Lok Sabha MPs are obviously unhappy about not completing their term. Then there are others like Pranab Mukherjee who still wants to make a last-ditch effort and try and convince the Left.
A section in the Congress believes that the government should table a people-friendly budget and then go for the polls.
As for the allies, they are a worried lot. RJD supremo and the Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, doesn't want to go back to the voter when his successor Nitish Kumar is doing quite well.
While DMK chief M Karunanidhi knows that he cannot repeat his 2004 performance and that J.Jayalalitha's party may wrest many of the DMK seats.
Only NCP chief Sharad Pawar doesn't have too much of a negative feeling about a possible poll. Pawar believes that his party might not fare too badly given the disarray in Shiv Sena and BJP and the factionalism in Congress.
Union Minister for Chemicals Ram Vilas Paswan doesn't want a mid-term poll because it doesn't suit him to go either with the UPA or the NDA.
The Left has problems both in West Bengal and Kerala. Nandigram and even the Rizwanur case have gone against the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. There is too much disunity in the Kerala CPI-M.
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