After all the barking so far, has the time finally come for the Left to bite? Is the UPA government entering that closing phase of its tenure when it will force the Left to withdraw support and precipitate early parliamentary elections? Will the Congress, which has suddenly begun to think that it is bound to return to power, become a victim of its own overconfidence, in the way the BJP did in 2004?
Overconfidence in an electoral battle often feeds on underestimation of the strength and resolve of one’s rival. Only time will tell whether the Left’s strength will increase or decrease in the next Lok Sabha polls — it is, according to most observers, likely to decrease. However, as far as the Indo-US nuclear deal is concerned, nobody should doubt the Left’s resolve to make good its oft-repeated threat to the UPA leadership that it should choose between the deal and the government.
Wishful thinking is an ailment that those in power easily catch. Thus there are many in and around the Congress party who think that the triumvirate of Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram have, with the waiver of farmers’ loans to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore, ensured that Prakash Karat & Co dare not do something as foolhardy as to withdraw support and cause the government to fall.
Those who believe that Chidambaram’s budget has tamed Karat know nothing about the mind of the CPM general secretary. He is a man committed to his principles. One may or may not agree with some or all of his principles, but he certainly belongs to that rare breed of contemporary politicians for whom core ideology matters more than being on the right side of the ruling coalition.
... contd.
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