Left withdraws support to UPA

From Kalyan Barooah NEW DELHI, July 8 – The UPA Government at the Centre plunged into its worst crisis till date, with the Left Parties withdrawing support over the nuclear deal, leaving the Dr Manmohan Singh Government high and dry. However, the Congress Party put up a brave front and declared that there was no threat to the Government. The Congress Party’s confidence followed Samajvadi Party’s unanimous support to the UPA Government.An upset Left said the time has come to pull the rug. Not content, the Left is also planning to request President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil to ask the Prime Minister to seek a vote of trust in the Lok Sabha to prove his government majority, when they call on her here tomorrow to submit the letter of withdrawal of support.In a day fast paced with political developments that saw almost all big and small players confabulating on the fate of Dr Manmohan Singh Government, leaders quickly picked up their calculators, to see if the UPA combine had the numbers to survive.The Left parties were first to set the ball rolling when it met in the morning at its headquarters to draft the letter to External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. They accused the ruling Congress-led coalition of refusing to provide the text to the members of the Committee on Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation and said the proposed meeting on July 10 would not serve any purpose in this context.It is critical for the country that the safeguards agreement was discussed with full transparency and not kept secret, said CPM general secretary, Prakash Karat.“Why is the Manmohan Singh Government keeping the draft of the IAEA agreement secret from the people,” the Left leader asked.The brief announcement by Karat-led the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi convene an emergency meeting of its senior leaders. In the evening, the all-powerful Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) was held, which was presided over by Mukherjee, in absence of the Prime Minister, who is away in Japan. The meeting was convened to fix a date for the special session of Parliament. Indication was that the government could go in for a trust vote on July 28.The Congress Party later described the Left action as most unfortunate. “When the entire nation is mourning those killed in the Kabul blast, the Left has chosen to make the announcement. It is most unfortunate. They think their prestige is more important than the nation’s prestige,” chairman of the AICC media department, Veerappa Moily said, reacting to the Left’s announcement.Yet, perhaps the biggest set back was suffered by SP, when at least six of its MPs gave broad hints they might oppose the opportunistic alliance with the Congress. Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav announced in the morning that all was well in the party after a meeting of the party Parliamentary Board, only to be contradicted by his colleague, Jai Prakash in Lucknow that a section of them opposed the move.He said each of its 39 MPs is solidly behind the Indo-US Nuclear deal. He requested the Left parties not to join the communal forces.Fishing in troubled waters, BJP president, Rajnath Singh attacked both the Left Parties and the UPA and demanded that a special session of Parliament should be convened immediately and the Prime Minister should seek a vote of confidence. He said the BJP leaders would approach the President of India to direct the present government to seek the trust vote. His statement came after an emergency meeting of the party’s office bearers, here this evening, to discuss the current political scenario and draft its future strategy. The day also saw a war of words between the Congress, Left and opposition parties. The Left held the Prime Minister responsible for precipitating the crisis, when he declared that Government would very soon approach the IAEA to move forward on the deal. The four parties- CPI (M), CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP lost no time in firming up plans to pull out of the coalition government, which it was supporting from outside.Karat also released the draft of the letter to Mukherjee. Since the UPA has refused to provide the text of the Safeguards Agreements to the members of the UPA-Left Committee, no purpose will be served by having a meeting.Further, the proposal for a meeting on the 10th is rendered meaningless since the Prime Minister, while travelling abroad, has chosen to announce that the government will be going to Board of Governors of the IAEA “very soon”.Previously, the Left parties had decided that if the government goes to the IAEA Board of Governors, they will withdraw support, the letter said.Meanwhile, allies rushed to extend support, ruling out any threat to the survival of the UPA government. RJD president Lalu Prasad said the alliance has majority support and it will be proved in Parliament. Later, Union Agriculture Minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar also said that the government is stable. source: assam tribune