Singh govt scrapes through Left test

Chidambaram highlights economic achievements

A 10-hour marathon meeting of the UPA-Left coordination committee that concluded with a dinner hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, saw strong words being exchanged, but on the whole, endorsed the UPA's performance.

Presided over by Gandhi, the government's functioning were divided into six broad themes like agriculture and rural development, defence and foreign policy for a closer look.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave an overview of the performance of his government and outlined the thrust areas as creation of employment opportunities, internal security and the peace process in Kashmir.

Among the ministers who made their presentations on the performance of their departments were Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Labour Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao.

Left leaders were on hand to give their comments on the functioning of the government.

Though a minister participating in the exercise said "strong opinions were expressed" by some UPA partners, especially on the delays in the passage of the rural employment guarantees Bill, by and large, the meeting passed off peacefully.

For the record, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said: "The meeting was useful as it gave an overall view of the performance of the UPA government for the past one year."

Certain concerns of the Left parties were also raised in the course of the meeting.

Leaders like Lalu Prasad and some Left leaders took note of the fact that even the Supreme Court had said six cases filed after the Gujarat riots should be heard outside the state.

Prasad wanted these cases to be heard by the CBI. But the home minister fobbed off such requests diplomatically.

Inquiries into riots and testimonies fall outside the mandate of the CBI.

The Left also did some plain speaking on issues like the delay in passing the protection of tribal lands Bill. But the tone was neither threatening nor emotional.

DMK leader M Karunanidhi had a list of suggestions that he wanted the central government to carry out, including the inter-linking of rivers, desalination plants for Chennai, rights for states to decide on reservation quotas beyond 50 per cent and reservation for OBCs in the private sector.

Chidambaram highlighted the progress in the civil aviation sector and said though the gross domestic product growth had been lower in the last one year than the previous year, exports had risen 24 per cent in 2003-04 and forex reserves had increased from $113 billion in 2003-04 to $141.5 billion in 2004-05.

He said the government had introduced tax reforms and a liberalised and user-friendly foreign direct investment policy.

Of the 28 states, 23 had accepted the value-added tax and the textile sector was booming, he added.

CPI leaders AB Bardhan and D Raja, Abani Roy (RSP), Debabrat Biswas (Forward Bloc), E Ahamed (IUML), Ramvilas Paswan (LJP) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) also attended the meeting.

Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni and Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief, also attended the meeting.