No threat to government, says Left

New Delhi, July 6: The Left parties today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to put all disinvestment decisions and proposals on hold reveals that the government knew only the language of threat and ruled out the possibility to any instability to the two-year-old Congress-led coalition.

''This is the victory of the united struggle of the workers...

If the government were more sensitive, mindful of the Common Minimum Programme, the confrontation would have been avoided,'' senior CPI (M) leader Nilotpal Basu told UNI.

Mr Basu, the former Rajya Sabha member, said even as the government decision would not affect its stability, its credibility on taking decisions would certainly be questioned.

CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said the Left did not want any instability at the Centre as the arithmetic of the 14th Lok Sabha was such that any alternative government would have to depend on the support of either the Congress or the BJP.

''You know the Left will not accept the support of the BJP,'' he said responding to a question on the emergence of a Third Front in view of the Manmohan Singh government's fast-losing credibility on price rise, fuel price hike and pro-US foreign policy.

''The government must realise that this sort of disinvestment of profit-making PSUs is not acceptable to the people of the country,'' Mr Yechury said.

Another CPI (M) veteran M K Pandhe said the local political conditions in Tamil Nadu might be the reason for the government's decision to put disinvestment proposals on hold.

''The government doesn't respond to the genuine concerns expressed by the Left,'' said Mr Basu.

Forward Bloc General Secretary D Biswas hailed the Prime Minister's decision as ''very good'' and said the Left from the very beginning had been highlighting this issue and warning the government against disinvestment in PSUs.

''It is of course a great victory of the workers but the credibility of the Manmohan Singh government is eroding,'' Mr Biswas said.

Workers of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation in Tamil Nadu and NALCO in Orissa had launched a vigorous agitation including strike to protest the government's decision on disinvestment.

RSP leader Abani Roy said it seemed that the only language this government knows was the language of pressure.

The government announced its decision after DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi threatened to review support to the central government.

UNI