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Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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Manmohan, Sonia rule out early polls

Special Correspondent

We will try for consensus with Left: Sonia

— Photo: PTI/ Vijay Verma

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2007 in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday discounted the possibility of early elections.

“Elections are still far away. The government has still one-and-a-half years to complete its term. I hope and expect we will stay the course,” the Prime Minister said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

“No, we are not in favour of early elections. As the Prime Minister has said, the deadline is 2009. We are going to do all we can to see that we implement our programmes till 2009,” Ms. Gandhi said.

She said the government would be working to bring about consensus with the Left on the nuclear deal. “We are still in the process of talking to them.”

While Dr. Singh inaugurated the summit with a written speech and then responded to questions, in the next session Ms. Gandhi interacted with Vir Sanghvi of Hindustan Times and then replied to queries.

Asked whether he had staked his personal prestige on the nuclear deal and its failure would make him appear a weak Prime Minister, Dr. Singh said he would be disappointed if the deal failed to materialise but the government was trying to reconcile its differences with the Left parties.

“We are not a one-issue government. We have made changes in various areas … but in life one has to take certain disappointments and move on to the next.”

Nuclear deal…not end of life: Manmohan

“… If the deal does not come through, that is not the end of life,” Dr. Singh replied to another query.

“In politics, we must survive short-term battles to address long-term concerns,” he said.

Both leaders said their recent statements, which were seen as challenging the Left on the nuclear deal, were misinterpreted. Ms. Gandhi said her speech in Haryana was targeted not at the Communists but at the local opposition.

“Every one [in the hall] would want me to say that it was an attack on the Left. But it was not. …. We are in a coalition. If I want to say about something which I don’t agree with them, the last thing I would do is to go out and shout and scream and say I don’t approve of it. I don’t agree. I would call that person and tell him directly that I don’t agree with you.”

Dr. Singh pointed out that his observations on the nuclear deal published in The Telegraph were in response to a public statement by the Communist parties. “I don’t think I have overstepped … I am conscious of my responsibilities, what I should say and what I should not say.”

Dr. Singh said the India-U.S. agreement “is an honourable deal that is good for India and good for the world.” Referring to the differences over the deal, he said, “We are in the realm of politics,” where there were differences of perception. “We are trying to reconcile the divergent points of view. I have not given up hope that reason and common sense will ultimately win the day.”

“Left not unreasonable”

Ms. Gandhi disagreed with a questioner that the Left was being unreasonable on the nuclear deal. “No, I don’t think they are being unreasonable. We have to understand the Left. They have certain ideology, they have some views. They are merely stating their views. Naturally, we are working together. We have to understand their views and we have to take note of what they say.”

Ms. Gandhi also spoke about the imperatives of the “dharma of coalition … [which is] to work together, try and understand and accommodate each other’s view.”

Earlier in his speech, the Prime Minister said, “We cannot assume that the country and the economy will move forward on their own while we dissipate our energies in meaningless controversies,” and urged against “battling the ghosts of the past” because there was a “vast unfinished agenda of development and reform.”

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