We are a part of the ruling alliance. We are part of the government, while the communists are not. We do not have the same freedom as them. We can’t have a minister in the Cabinet and yet go against the government.

• But before they expressed doubts, did you have doubts of your own about the deal?

I began to have some doubts and they were strengthened by the Left parties.

• You had doubts even before the communists raised these doubts?

It was only because I had doubts that I spoke up for the Left. After discussing with both sides, I felt that in the present circumstances, it should not become a very big crisis and the government should not damage itself, for it had a lot more schemes to implement for the people in the remaining two years. We should continue till then. It was in this spirit that I worked towards a resolution (of the issue).

• What is the correct approach now? Is the correct approach now to forget the deal forever? Or to keep the discussions going with the Left?

Both sides have reached a particular point. The Congress wanted to operationalise the deal, while the Communists wanted the government to go slow. This is where I came in. And people like me. We talked about it and said we should neither proceed with the deal nor dump it altogether. Therefore, the present situation is neither here nor there, like trishankhuswargam (Trishanku’s heaven).This decision has been accepted by all to avoid an immediate Parliamentary election and to prevent the chances of the BJP returning to power.

... contd.