CPI(M) Polit Bureau to finalise Muslim welfare plan

New Delhi, Feb 16 (UNI) A two-day meet of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, the party's highest decision-making body, beginning tomorrow will hold deliberations on Nandigram and allied issues, the Pension bill and welfare plan for Muslims among other subjects.

The Left party, which received flak for its" anti-farmer" decision of setting up the Special Economic Zone(SEZs) at Nandigram and the Tatas small car project at Singur from its allies and Left wing intellectuals, is expected to discuss threadbare the issue of land acquisition for industrial purposes.

Meanwhile, the sources said the party has offered bilateral talks to the dissenting partners- the CPI, Forward Bloc and the RSP.

The bilateral talks between the CPI(M) and the CPI have been scheduled for February 21 in Kolkata.

The party is also expected to finalise its charter of demands on Muslims as party General Secretary Prakash Karat has pointed out that his party has demanded a minority sub-plan seeking 15 per cent fund allocation by all Ministries for their welfare and priority lending to Muslims by PSU banks.

Party senior leader and Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe said the party would also have a '' re-thinking'' on its relationship with the UPA government and take stock of the current economic and political situation when the people are ''increasingly disillusioned'' with the Congress-led coalition following high rates of inflation, an unabated spate of farmers' suicides and its own allies ''deserting,'' over the last two years.

Mr Pandhe said the party leadership will also discuss the Punjab Assembly polls, the forthcoming polls in Uttarakhand and later in Uttar Pradesh.

''The party leadership will take stock of the new political situation following the drubbing of the Congress in the Municipal civic polls in Maharashtra, and the same outcome expected in Punjab polls held yesterday,'' the senior leader said, adding that the Congress position did not seem better in Uttarakhand and UP. The Left would have to ponder over this ''developing political scenario, particularly on the 2009 general elections in this situation,'' Mr Pandhe said, observing that the Congress will have to change its economic policies and learn about the 'sanctity' of the coalition dharma, otherwise it would meet the same fate as the NDA government in 2004 General Elections.

Party veterans -- Jyoti Basu, H S Surjeet, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, General Secretary Prakash Karat, Rajya Sabha MP -- Sitaram Yechury and Ms Brinda Karat -- are among the members of the Polit Bureau.

UNI