New Delhi, May 16
The national executive of the CPI which continued discussions for the second day today indicated that its emerging view was in favour of supporting a secular government from outside.
CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan said he would hand over the letter of support to Congress President Sonia Gandhi at a dinner meeting of secular allies.
Mr Bardhan, who was presiding over the meeting of the national executive, said the decision on government formation has to be taken collectively by the CPI, CPI(M), RSP and AIFB. “It is important for these parties to meet on Monday or Tuesday. At the moment, the view is in favour of supporting the party from outside. We are part of the Left. First of all, the Left has to decide. The CPM central committee is meeting. The Forward Bloc is also holding discussions. I’m not sure whether the RSP is holding a meeting in Delhi or Kolkata,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said the CPI was not trying to bridge ideological gap with the Congress but it was possible to address issues in the interest of the common man. “Was it difficult for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Rajasekhra Reddy to give power free of cost to the farmers?” he said.
Spelling out the CPI’s expectations regarding the proposed common minimum programme, he said: “The programme should address the basic immediate needs like food security, job security and drinking water security. The farmer had been very badly hit during the BJP regime. We would like to see how his
livelihood is assured.”
The CPI general secretary said disinvestment should be selective. Profit-making public sector undertakings which were known as “Navratnas” should not be touched.
Prominent among those who are attending the meeting of the national executive are party national secretary D. Raja, party secretary of Andhra Pradesh Sudhjakar Reddy, Bhubaneshar Prasad Mehta who defeated Minister of External Affairs Yashwant Sinha, former Kerala Chief Minister P.K. Vasudevan Nayar, Minister for Water Resources (West Bengal), Nandgopal Bhattacharya and party Secretary of West Bengal, Manju Kumar Majumdar.
