Left To Turn On The Heat On Gujral Govt

Short of pulling out of the United Front, the Left parties have decided to turn the heat on the I K Gujral government by ensuring that it does not backtrack on the various corruption cases being investigated by the CBI.

In an informal meeting of the four Left parties yesterday, it was decided that they would take every measure conceivable if the government tried to shield the corrupt after transferring Joginder Singh out of the CBI.

The Left parties would also raise the issue at the forthcoming meeting of the United Fronts steering committee.

The Left parties growing ennui stems from their perception that the Gujral government is going slow on various cases involving politicians. The moves made by Prime Minister IK Gujral on the corruption issue make us apprehensive, CPI(M) politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said. In a joint statement issued yesterday, the four Left parties said the real issue was not whether Gujral was competent to take the decision or not.

Neither the incompetence nor the competence of a particular person is being debated. The real issue is that at this juncture when investigations into several important cases are going on, the CBI chief has been shifted to some other place. This sends wrong signals and may erode the credibility of the UF government, it said.

So upset are the Left parties with the handling of the corruption cases that the CPI(M) has already decided to launch a 15-day mass campaign throughout the country. The campaign has a two-point agenda: To force the government to implement the Fronts common minimum programme, and to air the partys differences with the governments economic policies. The campaign would strengthen the coalition and force the government to function, rather than weakening it, Yechury said. There has been a political compulsion to keep the United Front intact to keep the BJP and the Congress away. But equally important is to ensure that the government functions effectively, so that its credibility is not eroded, he added.