| NEW DELHI, MAY 13:
It might not be a smooth course for Congress president Sonia Gandhi to get the pre-poll allies and the Left Parties to appoint her as the next prime minister as it is being made out to be. The first indication, of the rigmarole she has to go through to clinch the deal, came from the CPI.
Sonia, who began her first consultations with the Left and the allies with CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, was told in no uncertain terms that the ‘‘the leadership issue’’ is not going to be a fait accompli.
Sonia was also advised by her allies to ask for a few days from President Abdul Kalam before making a move. ‘‘She can only go to the President to stake claim after the secular front chooses her as their leader and not before that,’’ a senior Left Party leader said.
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First ‘‘the secular front’’ — her pre-poll allies (DMK, MDMK, PMK, RJD, NCP, JMM and the others) and the Left Parties — will have to sit down and resolve the leadership issue. In her meeting with Bardhan, sources said, two issues were discussed — the leadership issue and whether or not the Left would join the government. On support to a Congress-led government, Bardhan said, ‘‘We want a stable secular government in place. But, I asked her (Sonia) to first invite all secular parties, including the SP and the BSP, for the meeting. It would be upto the SP and BSP to decide if they want to participate in the government or not.’’
The meeting will most likely take place on May 16 or 17, around DMK chief Karunanidhi’s visit to Delhi on May 15. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was present during the meeting, is said to have accepted the CPI leader’s proposal on behalf of Sonia.
On joining the government, Bardhan said, ‘‘Our position is clear, the decision can only be taken at our national executive and the CPI(M) Central Committee meetings.’’
But, the Left is likely to put a condition that a committee has to be set up that would look into people’s grievances — unemployment, stalling of blind disinvestment et al — the reason why the BJP-led NDA government was voted out.
‘‘There has to be some immediate, tangible relief. I told her that our party policies are slightly different, those things have to be thrashed out,’’ Bardhan said. Another round of meeting is expected tomorrow.
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