Home India Politics PM-Left ties set to worsen in days ahead

PM-Left ties set to worsen in days ahead

By Liz Mathew, IANS

New Delhi : The already strained relations between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Left may worsen in the remaining two years of the government when the PM will have to brave the Left onslaught while pushing through his reforms agenda as well as the nitty-gritty of making the Indo-US nuclear deal operational.

According to sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the government has to cross several more hurdles to make the Indo-US civil nuclear deal a reality.

“The deal signals a new paradigm. But it’s just the beginning. We will have to sign the international Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Convention and pass the Atomic Energy Act, for which we need the Left’s support in parliament,” said an informed source in the PMO.

While the proposed Atomic Energy Act is to allow private parties to set up nuclear power reactors in the country, the Civil Liability for Nuclear Convention is an international convention adopted by Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to improve the liability regime for nuclear damage that all the nuclear capacity states should adhere to.

The existing Atomic Energy Act, 1962, does not allow private companies to erect nuclear reactors but gives powers only to Nuclear Power Corporation of India to do so. The international convention, that limits the liabilities of the nuclear reactor operators in the country, has to be ratified by parliament.

The four Left parties, which have asked the government to reject the nuclear deal on the basis of its ideological differences with “imperialistic” America, may not give assent on these two issues easily. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left parties provide crucial support to Manmohan Singh’s multi-party government in parliament.

“Besides, we have realised that it will not be possible for the government to implement its major reforms agenda in the insurance, banking and pension sectors (due to the Left’s protest),” said the source.

The Left has been opposing the reforms in the three sectors and despite several attempts the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has not been able to push through its bills on them.

“They had almost agreed to the pension bill, but retracted later saying we had to discuss it with the trade unions. It is not possible to convince the trade unions on the bill,” said the PMO source.

The source also indicated that the prime minister’s unprecedented outburst against the Left last weekend was the result of the “disappointment” the reformist Manmohan Singh has had to face on the earlier developments.

The prime minister dared his communist allies to withdraw support if they did not want to back the nuclear agreement between New Delhi and Washington. He said the deal was non-negotiable.

“He (Manmohan Singh) was personally committed to get a good deal for India. He has spent his goodwill for it, so he felt bad at the Left leaders’ language that he did not take care of the nation’s interests,” the source added.