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| Congress flip flop over nuclear deal conveys confusing messages | | | Early Times Special Correspondent
Jammu | Mar 10
News Analysis
Flip flop by the Congress led UPA government and the Congress party itself over nuclear deal, almost daily changing its stance and priority has presented the party in a bad shape. The External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukerjee, who earlier spoke of government's determination to operationalise the deal, disregarding the consequences of the same, took 180 degree u turn, when threatened by the leftists of withdrawal of their support to the government, in case the deal is operationalised and stated that the same cannot be done at the cost of fall of the government. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who even went to the extent of showering high praise on the BJP patriarch and former Prime Minister of NDA government, Atal Behari Vajpayee as Bisham Pitamah of Indian politics, making passionate appeal to him to act on the voice of his conscience and support the Indo-US nuclear deal, raising above party politics, stating that the UPA government was only carrying ahead the agenda of close relations with USA, initiated by the BJP led NDA government, headed by Vajpayee. He also praised Vajpayee for mustering courage and boldness to take steps to initiate a new era of friendship with Pakistan, by Vajpayee undertaking bus journey to Lahore and having talks with the then Pak premier Nawaz Sharief.
These developments were welcomed by a large number of right thinking people as harbinger of a new era of mutual goodwill and some sort of understanding between the two major political parties in the country, the Congress and the BJP, with the two giving go by to the traditional hostility and have at least some common ground over broader issues facing the country. The Congress overtures to BJP were obviously meant at placating the saffron party, in order to win its support for finalizing the nuclear deal with USA. But the volta face by the Congress and the government led by it the very next day after the CPI Supremo A. B. Vardhan spoke in unequivocal terms and categorically told the Prime Minister and the UPA government to either operationalise the deal or save the government, telling that in case of government going ahead with the deal the left parties will have no alternative other than pulling the rugs from under the feet of the government. The CPIM General Secretary Prakash Karat wrote to the Prime Minister demanding holding a meeting with the left parties, before taking any further step towards finalizing the Indo-US nuclear deal. The left leaders also conveyed their displeasure over Prime Minister showering praises on Vajpayee. These threats gave shivers down the spine of the Congress leaders, who immediately backtracked from their earlier position of going head with the deal, risking the withdrawal of support to the government by the left parties, giving ample hints of the Congress going close to the BJP, hoping the latter to bail it out in case the left parties withdraw their outward support to the government. Before the BJP could respond to the pleasantries to its top leader, the Congress not only meekly surrendered before the dictates by the left, but both the Prime Ministers and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi made a blistering attack on the BJP and the previous NDA government led by the party. In a mammoth rally of farmers held in Delhi, to take credit for the loan waiver scheme for the farmers announce in the budget by the Finance Minister P. Chidambrum, the Congress President and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi criticized the BJP in the sharpest ever terms, by holding the NDA government responsible for all the woes of the farmers and stated that the BJP leaders were only shading crocodile tears over the miserable plight of the farmers, while it did nothing during its rule, to ameliorate the lot of the farmers. It was the Congress led UPA government who had taken an effective step to rid the farmers of their debt trap and miseries.
All this goes only to confuse the common man as well as the political observers whether the Central ruling dispensation is contemplating for holding early elections to the Lok Sabha. Its abject surrender before the left, in order to save the government fall gives the indication that the Congress leadership is not thinking in terms of holding early elections, it also betrays party's apprehension of the loan waiver scheme to the farmers and other sops offered in the budget not going to pay electoral dividends to the party. On the other hand Sonia Gandhi's sharp criticism of BJP and former NDA government, conveys an entirely divergent message that the Congress and the other UPA partners are in the election mode and the same may be held early. |
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