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| Will India have new PM? | | Left parties for assuming power at the Centre | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI, July 4: Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, may not continue in his present office for long. Apart from uncontradicted reports about his "unwillingness" to work with a set of indisciplined Ministers and unpredictable allies in his government, the Left Front, it appears, is for change of guard at the Centre.
It also appears that the Left Front, particularly the Communist Party of India (Marxist), is in a hurry to cash in on the public goodwill Left parties have generated by speaking the common man's language against the Manmohan Singh government's failure to control high prices of essential commodities. No wonder, the Congress party headed by Sonia Gandhi is rattled by the Left Front's unabated threat to review its support to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the Centre.
More importantly, there are animaterd whispers in politcal and official circles in the Indian capital about Left Front's eventual plan to assume power at the Centre. And Congress party circles feel that unlike in the past, the Left threat cannot be taken lightly in view of spiralling prices of essential commodities.
The four constituents of the Left Front have clearly suggested what is up their sleeve. It is to finalise their agitation plans on the issue and review their outside support to the Congress-led UPA government that completed two years in office in May this year.
The threat has, however, opened up the possibility of a role reversal with a Left-led government assuming power with the outside support of the Congress party. And speculations are already rife hat the Left Front may propose name of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, for the Prime Minister's post.
Left circles are also saying that Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, during his recent meeting with the Left leaders, had asked them to take over reins of the government in total exasperation complaining of constant Left intervention in the functioning of his government. The four Left parties--the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), have a total strength of 57 members in the 545-member Lok Sabha.
Their support is crucial for the survival of the UPA government, a post-poll alignment of 12 parties after the Congress party emerged as the single largest party in the hung Lok Sabha elected in May 2004. The current party position in the Lok Sabha suggests that a Left-led government can be formed provided most of the UPA constituents agree to support its bid.
In such an eventuality, some of the constituents of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may also come forward in support of a new dispensation at the Centre. While the Samajwadi Party that rules Uttar Pradesh has 38 lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal has three. Together with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that has five lawmakers, they are exploring the possibility of forming a Left-led Third Front and may not think twice to support the Marxist bid, taking their combined tally to 103.
According to some political observers, the present government headed by Manmohan Singh will face a different situation in Parliament during its upcoming monsoon session, with some allies of the government having decided to play the role of a defiant opposition on certain issues. The opposition NDA leaders, particularly the ones from the BJP, these observers anticipate, will leave no stone unturned to see the Congress party in a bad shape, politically and strategically, in ther coming days and weeks.
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