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February 23, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96



Left wrestles with idea of backing Congress from outside

George Iype in New Delhi

The Left parties are debating the possibility of extending 'issue-based' support to a Congress-led coalition government to prevent the Bharatiya Janata party from coming to power after the Lok Sabha elections.

The four left parties -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc -- believe that the ongoing elections will catapult into the position of the single largest bloc in the United Front.

"We feel the Left parties will emerge as the largest bloc in the UF and therefore will guide the Front's destiny," a senior CPI leader said.

He said if the UF strength in the Lok Sabha gets depleted against the Congress after the elections, the Left Front will lay down rules for the next political formation.

"No UF partner wants to join hands with a Congress government, but we will be hard-pressed to extend outside support to the party to keep BJP out of power," he told Rediff On the Net.

The Janata Dal with 45 seats held the vaunted position of being the biggest group in UF after the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. But after former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav split away to form his own Rashtriya Janata Dal, the JD strength was reduced to less than 30, making the CPM with 32 seats the leader of the UF.

Left leaders fear that the shape of the UF coalition will change after the elections as some of its regional constituents are said to be inclined to supporting a BJP-led government.

Sources said with the conclusion of the second phase of polling on Sunday, the BJP leadership will begin parleys with key UF partners like the Telugu Desam Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Asom Gana Parishad to lure them into supporting a saffron-led government at the Centre. The three regional parties are likely to form the crucial UF numbers in Parliament.

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has already stated that the AGP will not support or join a Congress-led government. TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to break away from the UF rather than join hands with the Congress after the polls.

Since the UF leaders are reconciled to the prospects of the Congress bagging more seats than the Front, the Left parties' efforts are geared to convincing the UF allies of the need to shed their anti-Congress sentiments.

Many believe the UF's allies will be forced to choose from two political options soon after the elections -- either join a Congress-led government or sit in the opposition and give issue-based support to a Congress-led regime.

"We have decided that we will not take part in any coalition government in which the Congress party is a part," CPM politbureau member Sitaram Yechuri told Rediff On The Net.

But he said the Left parties are debating whether to provide 'principled and issue-based support' to the Congress in an attempt to keep the BJP at bay.

During 1969-70, the Left parties had supported the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government on issues like the nationalisation of banks, her garibi hatao programme and abolition of privy purses.

However, Yechuri said it is too early "to predict what is going to happen after the elections". But his views reflect that an outside, issue-based support to the Congress is something that the UF partners will be forced to think about in the post-poll scenario.

While the Left's postures are being viewed as evidence of their increasing influence in the UF affairs, the Front constituents will be forced to toe the Communists' line soon after the elections.

Elections '98

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