Left readies action plan to topple govt

NEW DELHI: Admitting that ruling establishment is pulling all stops to get smaller parties and individual MPs to vote in favour of UPA during the trust vote, Left is also attempting to rally political parties so that the government can be toppled on July 22.

On Saturday CPM general secretary Prakash Karat had a meeting with party's parliamentary leadership to decide on the strategy inside and outside Parliament.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is likely to resign early next week. "Its all a part of well-thought out plan. We will not lose a vote," a source said. Senior leaders are also reaching out to various parts of the country to tell people how Manmohan Singh-led government has betrayed the country on the issue of nuclear deal and how it falls short of PM's promise in Parliament.

As for Left's efforts to garner support, so far apart from TDP no party has committed. JD (S) MP Veerendra Kumar has also promised support to Left even if party goes with the government. Left is also not relying on Deve Gowda.

But National Conference is undecided. On the other hand Left feels Jharkhand Mukti Morcha cannot be relied upon. Parties like AGP have gone over to NDA and will vote against the government.

Explaining NC's dilemma, a left source said, "National Conference does not want to antagonize Congress before assembly election. NC sees itself as filling the slot left by the PDP in J&K and team with Congress after the election results."

CPM also denied that senior leaders like Jyoti Basu do not agree with party's stand to vote against the UPA. Calling it "fabricated", CPM said "such motivated reports are being floated to hamper the rallying of all the forces who are committed to oppose the nuclear deal and bring to book UPA's failure to tackle price rise and other problems of the people."

The Times of India dt. 13 7 2008