Indian govt meets to finalise new agenda
AFP, New Delhi
India's new ruling coalition was in a last-minute huddle with communists and other allies yesterday to finalise the left-leaning government's political agenda. The programme, to be released Thursday, will focus mainly on economic issues and support policies promoting growth, but will also tackle foreign, education and other policy areas. Some financial analysts fear the coalition's ambitions to push for economic reforms "with a human face" could bloat India's fiscal deficit and slow Asia's third-largest economy, which posted 10.4 percent third-quarter growth. After two days of talks in their power hub of Calcutta, capital of communist-ruled West Bengal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) decided not to be formally part of the Congress-led 20-party United Progress Alliance. "The CPM will not be a partner of the Congress-led alliance but we will support it from outside," said Biman Bose, a senior party official told AFP. At the same time, the communist party, which holds 43 seats that are key to the government's survival, and other leftist allies made it clear that withdrawing their support for the United Progress Alliance was not an option. Senior communist leaders called on Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and discussed the government's agenda, to be known as the Common Minimum Programme. A full meeting of the ruling alliance was due to be held later Wednesday at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's home to finalise the draft. Communist leaders said the communists' decision to stay out of the ruling alliance was dictated by politics in the eastern state of West Bengal, where Congress is its chief opponent. Bose said party members had studied the common programme draft and a final decision on whether to sign it would be taken after talks with other left parties later Wednesday. "We've raised objection on some points. Whether CPM will sign the common minimum programme will be decided after its meeting with other left parties. We hope our suggestions will be accepted by the Congress," he said. The leftists, with their strong anti-privatisation views, have asked the Congress to make major changes to the previous government's economic policies including disbanding the disinvestment ministry. The push to arrive at an accord on the programme followed a day of drama in which Singh finally placated a southern regional ally unhappy over the allocation of ministerial portfolios who had threatened not to join the alliance.
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