The Hindu : Front Page : 12-member coordination panel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

12-member coordination panel

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. The proposed coordination committee — envisaged as a mechanism for consultation between the United Progressive Alliance Government and the Left parties — will be a 12-member body and will, in all likelihood, include constituents of the ruling coalition. Six members will be from the four supporting Left parties, the UPA will be represented by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, and four members of the Government who will participate in the meetings depending on the issue before the committee.

However, a final decision on the contours of the committee — mooted by the Left parties — will be taken on Sunday after the Prime Minister returns from his overseas tour.

Differences resolved

Differences between the Left parties and the Congress over the membership issue seem to have been ironed out at a meeting between the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, and Ms. Gandhi here this morning.

Mr. Basu was accompanied by the Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, and Ms. Gandhi by her political secretary, Ahmed Patel.

The Congress said the remaining four members of the UPA would be selected by Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi. The idea is that the membership would be issue-based; thereby addressing the Left concern that the committee is not primarily a coordination mechanism for the Congress and the Left. The Left feels that at least three other constituents of the UPA — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Nationalist Congress Party — should be represented.

However, the Congress — which has reservations over confining the representation to just three allies — favours it being primarily an interface between it and the Left parties.

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