NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17 Economic roadblocks resulting from the Left’s refusal to permit reforms is expected to figure prominently in Wednesday’s breakfast meeting of the high-profile UPA-Left coordination committee members. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to the leaders of the four Left constituents was despatched today. Official sources said that the Government’s reforms agenda may be taken up at the meeting.

The tsunami disaster did not permit the monthly UPA-Left meeting in December last year. Otherwise, there was a possibility of the Left leaders being summoned for their views especially on economic issues immediately after Christmas. With the meeting deferred, the UPA Government’s scheduled reforms package has been kept in abeyance. PMO sources said: ‘‘Everything is pending. So the agenda is basically the entire reforms agenda.’’

Wednesday’s meeting is expected to be crucial because not everything between the UPA leadership and the Left was hunky dory at the last UPA-Left coordination committee meeting. In fact, that meeting was quite explosive with the Prime Minister choosing to voice his grievances against stumbling blocks put up by the Left. The PM had reacted quite sharply taking the participating Left leaders quite by surprise.

As usual, the Left will be represented by Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP). UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is a member of the coordination committee and so are Pranab Mukherjee (Defence Minister), P. Chidambaram (Finance MInister) and Ahmed Patel.

Of late, the Left has been very critical of the Government’s economic policies. Recent articles published in various mouthpieces of the CPI(M) and CPI have accused the Government of blatantly favouring big business and not ‘‘heeding the people’s mandate’’. There has also been marginal distancing between the Left and the Congress over seat-sharing in Bihar with the Left having tilted towards Laloo Yadav in Bihar more out of political expediency.