Left slams Congress for slighting need for coalition partners

New Delhi, Jan 25 (UNI) Irked over the Congress' ''arrogance'' in claiming it could come to power at the Centre on its own strength, the Left parties today asserted that the party would need their support for any future government and advised it to acknowledge that era of coalition governments had come to stay.

Reminding the Congress that India ''has settled in for a long span of the coalition era,'' senior leaders of the CPI, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc said the Congress is already functioning as the junior partner in Tamil Nadu, while running coalition governments in Jammu and Kashmir, Asom and Maharashtra.

''Barring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, where is the Congress running any state government of its own,'' the Left leaders sought to know, mocking it for ''manipulating a so-called survey'' to give the impression that the vast majority of the people are ready to support the Congress and its allies in the 2009 general elections.

The Left leaders' reaction came a day after AICC General Secretary and party media department chairperson Janardhan Dwivedi said that a coalition is not a ''permanent arrangement'' and that it is ''natural'' for the party to think about coming to power at the Centre on its own. His optimism was in the wake of the HT-CNN-IBN survey predicting as many as 300 Lok Sabha seats for the UPA coalition if general elections were held presently.

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told UNI that the present era continues to be of coalition politics. ''Nobody is in a position to have majority on its own,'' he said, noting that the survey had given 300 Lok Sabha seats to the UPA and not the Congress alone.

''Then why is it behaving so arrogantly,'' he queried.

The veteran Communist and freedom fighter claimed that the Congress attempting to show that it would no longer depend on the Left parties or the other parties in the UPA.

''If the Congress leadership wishes to indulge in day-dreaming, it is their choice,'' he said, adding that ''one should remind them of the sufferings and hardships being faced by different sections because of their anti-poor and anti-people economic policies.'' Supporting Mr Bardhan's argument, party national secretary Shamim Faizi said it was now for the Congress to decide whether it wanted to appear as a ''Centre-Left party or one which is gradually gravatiting to the Right.'' Mr Faizi, editor pf the party weekly 'New Age', said that the Congress, in the states it ruled, particularly Punjab, had ''unfortunately, vigorously implemented the policies of the World Bank and the IMF creating hardship for the peasantry and the working people.'' ''These were the very policies that were rejected by the people in May 2004, leading to the ouster of the NDA government,'' he added.

On the Survey's observation, that in Punjab, the Congress is improving its chances, the CPI leader claimed the whole idea was to create the impression that people were supporting the ''anti-people economic new liberalism.'' ''The Congress has to learn a lot from the collapse of campaigns like 'India Shining' and 'Feel Good'..... the working people and peasantry can not be fooled by propagating the merits of foreign exchange reserves, the activity in the stock exchange and the high rate of GDP,'' he noted.

Senior CPI(M) leader and party Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe said, barring Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, the Congress was not strong anywhere. ''In the Hindi heartland.... in Uttar Pradesh, it is on the fourth position. In Bihar, it is a non-entity.

Besides, there is intense infighting in the party at the central level,'' Mr Pandhe said.

''The Congress is trying to bypass the Left for which it will have to pay a heavy political price.. but the fact remains it cannot ignore the Left for a long time to come,'' the CPI(M) leader said, adding that if the Congress wanted to ''collaborate'' with the BJP, ''it could do it happily for forming the next union government, otherwise it should refrain from talk of ''its own rule'' at the Centre.

Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas said the Congress should not ignore the ''stark reality'' on the ground, which was reflected in rising inflation, growing unemployment and displacement of people because of land acquisition.

''The Congress should see the writing on the wall,'' the Left leaders stressed.

UNI