Intuc snubs Cong, to march with Left on February 23

At a time when the Congress and its United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government are facing political attacks, Intuc, considered the party’s trade union wing though it is not formally affiliated, has stepped in to add insult to injury.

Defying “requests” from top Congress leaders, Indian National Trade Union Congress chief G Sanjeeva Reddy, will march towards Parliament on February 23 — two days into the Budget session — along with other Central Trade Unions (CTUs), including the Left. They will protest against price rise, lack of welfare measures for the unorganised sector and alleged violation of labour laws in the Manmohan Singh regime.

This will be the first time Intuc would join Left-sponsored trade unions and others to stage a march towards Parliament. The protest programme has been drawn carefully to showcase the collective might of the unions, days before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is slated to present his general Budget.

Top trade union sources told Business Standard that Mukherjee had called Reddy last week to his office and told him to refrain from joining hands with the Leftists.

Reddy, strongly in control of his organisation, told Mukherjee he didn’t see anything wrong in doing so. He also reminded the finance minister that the Congress had taken the support of the Left to form its first UPA government.

Reddy had also met Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi to explain his position, which is apparently contradicting its party’s interests. According to CTU sources, he also explained to Gandhi why his move to jointly protest with the Left was “correct”.

A confident and aggressive Reddy on Tuesday led the press conference of the CTUs and said, “The government has forgotten its duty. We have to remind the government and tell them that the aam aadmi is suffering.”

Left leaders like All India Trade Union Congress (Aituc) chief Gurudas Dasgupta were happy to see an aggressive Reddy, which more than made up for the absence of the BJP-affiliated trade union, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), from Tuesday’s press conference. The BMS had not joined the other central trade unions during the last protest programme — an all-India strike — as well.

Accusing the government of not paying heed to the demand of the workers, Reddy said, “Workers are rising against governments all over the world and matters would get worse here if the government ignored the demands being made by the unions.”