Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051206611400.htm

National

Buddhadeb will have to play a major role: Basu

Special Correspondent

In sorting out differences between the Left and the UPA

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will have to play a more crucial role in sorting out the differences between the Left parties and the United Progressive Alliance, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said here on Thursday.

Now that the Left parties have registered landslide victories in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala, the pressure on the UPA Government at the Centre will also be intensified to ensure that it implements the provisions laid down in the Common Minimum Programme, he said. "The Congress-led Government will also have to implement not only its programmes but also those being emphasised by the Left... We have problems with the UPA Government [for failing to do so]."

Displeasure

He expressed displeasure over the Centre's deviation from the policy of non-alignment."We are not happy with the foreign policy of the Manmohan Singh Government. It thinks that nothing can be done without the support of the United States."

The new Left Front Government to be set up in West Bengal will try to solve the problem of unemployment through greater industrialisation. The move for greater industrialisation will have to be intensified, he said.

The CPI (M) Polit Bureau will meet in New Delhi on May 13 to take stock of the situation in the wake of the elections. A decision on who is to be the new Chief Minister of Kerala could be taken then, he added.