Budget on the roll, will Cong go for the polls?

CHECKMATE: Experts on CNN-IBN agree that the Union Budget was a good political move.

          

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Keywords: Farmers, Left

However, the Left party said there is no question on the political consensus. So is the Left going to renew its threat of backing out of the Government and withdraw its support if the nuclear deal talks go ahead?

“At no point in time did we threaten the Government. We just said that the nuclear deal was against the very grain of the Common Minimum Programme to the extent that it subverted the very provision of adapting an independent foreign policy position,” explained Basu.

Basu added, “We heard from the Government on this deal when they were approaching the IAEA and they were supposed to come back and report the progress of the talks to the joint UPA-Left mechanism. The deal in the present form is not acceptable not only to us, but a majority of Parliament members.”

In fact, Basu asserted that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also reiterated that US is not going to do anything in the international foray which contravenes the Hyde Act.

There is a feeling in the Congress camp that if they wait longer, price rice will set in, there could be a bad monsoon and these will have an adverse impact on the economy.

The Government has a high-spending Budget – sops to farmers, huge payouts to minorities, SC and STs. These will not be sustained once the economy begins to weaken.

Therefore, this is the time to go to the people with the promises the Government has made and not wait for the problems to start setting in.

“I can just assure you that there will be no mid-term people,” Alvi said and then added, “The Budget is not just for show. It is for the common man and we are going to implement it. By the month of June, FM has assured Parliament that all loans of farmers will be waived off. As far as the minorities are concerned, they are already with us. It is the first time that Rs 1000 crore has been allocated for the minorities”.

Political momentum seized?

The issues that the BJP was taking up like terrorism, minority appeasement and Ram Setu seem to be holding no water. With this Budget, has the Congress seized a certain political dynamism?

Chandan Mitra explained that the Congress has managed to seize the dynamism and the initiative only among the sections of media and the chattering classes.

“If you talk to farmers from Vidarbha, Bhartiya Kisan Union leaders from Western UP and from other affected areas, even Bundelkhand, which the Congress and particularly Rahul Gandhi has been trying to use as his springboard, you will realise that this rosy picture melts in no time,” he said.