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Buddhadeb expected to meet Manmohan

Special Correspondent

CPI(M) stand on nuclear deal is likely to be discussed

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his stay in New Delhi, when, among other issues, the question of the CPI(M) leadership finding “unacceptable” the nuclear deal is likely to be taken up.

He left for the capital on Thursday evening.

Dr. Singh called Mr. Bhattacharjee on Tuesday — the day he had a meeting with CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on the nuclear agreement with the U.S. He had then reportedly expressed his desire to talk to Mr. Bhattacharjee on the matter.

Mr. Bhattacharjee had also told the Prime Minister that the latter was aware of the “principled” stand of his party on the agreement and that it would be further discussed at the CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

Mr. Karat is expected to report to the Polit Bureau what transpired at his meeting with Dr. Singh.

Poser to Manmohan

The Prime Minister should learn from the Left parties how to run a coalition government instead of offering them advice on how to treat one, said Chairman of the Left Front Committee Biman Bose, who was also on his way to attend the Polit Bureau meeting.

“The very words he [Dr. Singh] has used, telling the Left parties to learn how to treat a coalition government, were unkind,” Mr. Bose said pointing out that it was the United Progressive Alliance that should be engaged in the “learning” process. “Our policy is not to bring down the government.”

“Such advice is not right… the Prime Minister should learn how to run a coalition when the government [at the Centre] is a minority one.” “They have not completed even one term whereas the Left Front government [in West Bengal] is into its seventh term,” Mr. Bose said.

“Gossip”

On reports in a section of the media that there is the possibility of a mid-term election at the Centre,

Mr. Bose dismissed them as “gossip that seems to have no basis.” But, he added that the Left parties would continue to put pressure on the Centre to change its policies which were detrimental to the national interest.

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