We are seeking common minimum programme: CPIML(L)

The CPIML (L) Wednesday said it is seeking a common minimum programme from the new Bihar government while promising outside support to it. The party which has a dozen MLAs in Bihar assembly and was a key player in the drama surrounding Nitish Kumar's move to embrace the `Mahagathbandhan', said that it will work to provide a bridge between the civil society's demands and the new government in the state. "We are proposing that a common minimum programme of the new government be created," Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPIML (L) said at a press conference held here on Wednesday.

''We do not wish to be in the ministry,'' Bhattacharya said, while promising ''creative and critical cooperation from outside'' to the new government in Bihar.

He said that the party will provide policy inputs and help the government in policy making and implementation.

''If the government moves in this direction as an anti-BJP dispensation should, then certainly our cooperation will be there,'' he said.

Asked about Nitish Kumar's track record of switching allies, Bhattacharya said that he would not comment on the past or future possibilities but only about the present.

''The question is not Nitish Kumar, but the BJP,'' he said, adding that the saffron party has put itself in such a position that its own leaders like Yashwant Sinha left the party and its long-standing ally Nitish Kumar had to part ways with it.

Bhattacharya said that at present no support is with both hands, but is relative to the present situation in the country where he claimed the BJP is trying to establish a one-party system.

Bhattacharya said that the party's Bihar state committee will meet on August 13, where he and other leaders will be present.

''What happened in Bihar is not only important for the state but also for the country,'' he said.

He claimed that the BJP became "aggressive after winning the Uttar Pradesh election" and worked to change the government in Maharashtra. Bhattacharya also claimed the saffron party was working to bring down the elected government in Jharkhand and change the chief minister in Bihar, replacing him with a BJP candidate.

Alleging that the BJP is trying to establish a one-party system in the country, he said that it "was trying to make Bihar a laboratory for that." ''Bihar has stopped this march of the BJP,'' he said, claiming that what happened in the state's politics is very significant for the country.

He said that his party would expect the new government to be more sensitive to civil society and democratic movements.

''It is three years to the next assembly elections in Bihar and less than two years before the Lok Sabha polls, some visible changes and policy changes have to be made by then,'' he said.

He said that a coordinating committee needs to be set up as well a monitoring mechanism.

''We would propose that a common minimum programme be made and for it a coordination committee and monitoring mechanism be made,'' he said.

The CPI(ML) leader also underlined that the Nitish Kumar dispensation will have to give priority to job creation in the state.

Holding that mandis for buying agricultural products were dispensed with after Nitish Kumar first became Bihar chief minister in 2005, he demanded that these be made operational again to ensure fair price to farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)