Anatomy of indecision

What was expected to be a "make-or-break" meeting of the UPA-Left coordination committee on the India-US civil nuclear cooperation deal turned out to be an anti-climax. The meeting took place amidst plausible reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was firm on pushing the deal through without further delay. This was understandable because, as US officials constantly remind this country, "time is running out". Nor could the prime minister possibly go to the G-8 summit in Japan in early July with the deal's fate still hanging in the balance because of domestic discord.

The meeting itself was stormy, and neither side budged an inch from its position. Yet a compromise of sorts was reached, as was to be expected in view of the perfervid political activity that had gone on earlier between the Congress and its UPA allies, and within the Congress itself. Two heavyweight allies — Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi — set themselves up as "mediators" between the Congress and the CPM-led Left Front, though to no avail. Equally fruitless were the efforts of Congress leaders running around like chickens with their heads cut off, if this phrase is permissible.

Even so, almost everybody takes it for granted that a parting of the ways between the Congress and the communists is inevitable, perhaps sooner rather than later. This itself could cause fresh trouble because, according to Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's announcement, the coordination committee, to meet in "due course", has to formulate its "findings", which would surely need time. The government might prefer a decision before the G-8 summit.

Soon after UPA parleys began, it became crystal clear that no one wanted early elections that could be precipitated by the withdrawal of the Left Front's support should the government go ahead with the deal or even go to Vienna to sign the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Ironically, the difference between "advanced elections" and the poll on schedule is just four months. But the trouble is that inflation rising to the frightening double-digit figure of 11.05 per cent has sent shivers down the spines of politicians of all hues.

... contd.

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