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Monday, June 23, 2008
Karat turns to Karuna
Chennai/New Delhi: Caught between the tough lines they have pursued on the nuclear deal, both Congress and Left have now turned to the allies to mediate to save the coalition from a seemingly irreconciliable situation.
A day after DMK boss and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi warned that the BJP could return to power exploiting the differences in the ruling combine, CPM chief Prakash Karat and CPI secretary D Raja met him in Chennai on Sunday pleading for his intervention to break the impasse. “On behalf of the Left parties, we have requested him to intervene in this problem and see how things can be resolved,” Karat later told reporters. He said it was befitting for Karunanidhi to play the mediatory role since he was the senior-most leader of the UPA. Karunanidhi, according to sources, told the Left leaders to adhere to the middle path while agreeing to come to Delhi in the coming week to help the two sides bridge the differences. Karnanidhi said on Saturday, “We have a duty to resolve the differences between the Congress and the Left parties in the interests of the nation.” He further said that the UPA-Left alliance should be strengthened for the sake of the prosperity and growth of India, reports from Chennai had said.
The peace talks are expected to focus on how to reconcile the PM’s insistence on approaching the IAEA for ratification of the safeguards agreement with the Left’s resolute refusal to let the government do that. The PM has said that the government must complete its business with IAEA for the country’s credibility. He and others in the UPA have tried to tell the Left that they can put the process on the pause mode, thus, meeting Left’s condition that the deal is not operationalised.
The Left, however, insists that this must be backed up by a public undertaking of sorts which the government is loathe to give. The government’s argument is that a public declaration can hardly enhance India’s credibility as a reliable interlocutor — the reason for which the PM wants to go to the IAEA.
India To Lobby With NSG
July and September are emerging as key months in the nuclear deal calendar that has been worked out between foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and key officials. India is likely to start lobbying in earnest with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for an exemption by July. The PM wants to kick off the effort at the G8 summit itself. That will be a formal opening of negotiations on the NSG. Nuclear deal: Manmohan firm, Left stubborn
Chennai/New Delhi: Bridging the differences between the UPA and the Left parties over the nuclear deal is going to be tough as CPM doesn’t seem interested in letting the government survive for long in any case. But neither the Congress leadership nor the Left can allow the deterioration in ties to move beyond a point because of the imperatives of the coalition era which may knock them into a political alliance after the next Lok Sabha polls.
The allies are likely to explore whether the assurance from the government that it would let the ball rest at the IAEA will be acceptable to the Left if it is underwritten by senior leaders like Karunanidhi, Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad.
Despite the worrying inflation figures and the hardening of Left’s posture, the PM has not wavered on his keenness to go to the IAEA. He has always maintained that the deal was in national interest and there was no reason for the government and the Congress to be apologetic about it. “If it is a good deal, it is a good deal,” he is learnt to have recently told one of his colleagues.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi agrees with him but will not like to press headlong into a confrontation with the Left despite the buffer that has been tied up with the Samajwadi Party. Congress is worried that a rupture on this issue will so embitter the ties that the two sides may find it difficult to collaborate even on the ground of “secularism”.
The fear is based on the certainty that the CPM would cite the deal as a sign of Congress’s capitulation to the US, leaving the former with little option but to retaliate by publicising its suspicion that the CPM and the Left could be playing “China’s game”.
To further the peace overtures, Sonia is expected to consult allies like Pawar and others who are talking to the Left to avert early elections. While Pawar has been active trying for a compromise between the two sides, Karunanidhi’s visit to Delhi is expected to further push the process as he has good equations with senior leaders of the CPM and CPI.
“He embarked on a similar role in the past and he is going to play a crucial role in the current crisis as well,” DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said confirming the CM’s visit to the Capital.
In a quick stock-taking, the Congress leadership has considered the pros and cons of inking the deal at the cost of the government at this stage and is of the view that the 123 agreement could give a boost to its flagging prospects in elections after a series of defeats.
Arguing against clinging to power for a few more months by sacrificing the deal, a prominent member of the pro-deal lobby said, “Anyway there will be elections in four states in November; what will be the government’s status if Congress suffers reverses again?”
A day after DMK boss and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi warned that the BJP could return to power exploiting the differences in the ruling combine, CPM chief Prakash Karat and CPI secretary D Raja met him in Chennai on Sunday pleading for his intervention to break the impasse. “On behalf of the Left parties, we have requested him to intervene in this problem and see how things can be resolved,” Karat later told reporters. He said it was befitting for Karunanidhi to play the mediatory role since he was the senior-most leader of the UPA. Karunanidhi, according to sources, told the Left leaders to adhere to the middle path while agreeing to come to Delhi in the coming week to help the two sides bridge the differences. Karnanidhi said on Saturday, “We have a duty to resolve the differences between the Congress and the Left parties in the interests of the nation.” He further said that the UPA-Left alliance should be strengthened for the sake of the prosperity and growth of India, reports from Chennai had said.
The peace talks are expected to focus on how to reconcile the PM’s insistence on approaching the IAEA for ratification of the safeguards agreement with the Left’s resolute refusal to let the government do that. The PM has said that the government must complete its business with IAEA for the country’s credibility. He and others in the UPA have tried to tell the Left that they can put the process on the pause mode, thus, meeting Left’s condition that the deal is not operationalised.
The Left, however, insists that this must be backed up by a public undertaking of sorts which the government is loathe to give. The government’s argument is that a public declaration can hardly enhance India’s credibility as a reliable interlocutor — the reason for which the PM wants to go to the IAEA.
India To Lobby With NSG
July and September are emerging as key months in the nuclear deal calendar that has been worked out between foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and key officials. India is likely to start lobbying in earnest with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for an exemption by July. The PM wants to kick off the effort at the G8 summit itself. That will be a formal opening of negotiations on the NSG. Nuclear deal: Manmohan firm, Left stubborn
Chennai/New Delhi: Bridging the differences between the UPA and the Left parties over the nuclear deal is going to be tough as CPM doesn’t seem interested in letting the government survive for long in any case. But neither the Congress leadership nor the Left can allow the deterioration in ties to move beyond a point because of the imperatives of the coalition era which may knock them into a political alliance after the next Lok Sabha polls.
The allies are likely to explore whether the assurance from the government that it would let the ball rest at the IAEA will be acceptable to the Left if it is underwritten by senior leaders like Karunanidhi, Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad.
Despite the worrying inflation figures and the hardening of Left’s posture, the PM has not wavered on his keenness to go to the IAEA. He has always maintained that the deal was in national interest and there was no reason for the government and the Congress to be apologetic about it. “If it is a good deal, it is a good deal,” he is learnt to have recently told one of his colleagues.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi agrees with him but will not like to press headlong into a confrontation with the Left despite the buffer that has been tied up with the Samajwadi Party. Congress is worried that a rupture on this issue will so embitter the ties that the two sides may find it difficult to collaborate even on the ground of “secularism”.
The fear is based on the certainty that the CPM would cite the deal as a sign of Congress’s capitulation to the US, leaving the former with little option but to retaliate by publicising its suspicion that the CPM and the Left could be playing “China’s game”.
To further the peace overtures, Sonia is expected to consult allies like Pawar and others who are talking to the Left to avert early elections. While Pawar has been active trying for a compromise between the two sides, Karunanidhi’s visit to Delhi is expected to further push the process as he has good equations with senior leaders of the CPM and CPI.
“He embarked on a similar role in the past and he is going to play a crucial role in the current crisis as well,” DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said confirming the CM’s visit to the Capital.
In a quick stock-taking, the Congress leadership has considered the pros and cons of inking the deal at the cost of the government at this stage and is of the view that the 123 agreement could give a boost to its flagging prospects in elections after a series of defeats.
Arguing against clinging to power for a few more months by sacrificing the deal, a prominent member of the pro-deal lobby said, “Anyway there will be elections in four states in November; what will be the government’s status if Congress suffers reverses again?”
Labels: Indian Politics
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