Indian coalition gets polls boost

The Left parties' landslide victory in their traditional bastions of West Bengal and Kerala states signalled that they would mount pressure on the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over its economic reforms and burgeoning ties with the United States.

Immediately after the election results, Left leaders, including CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leader Gurudas Dasguptasaid the elections have given the Left a greater role in national politics and there should be more intervention in policy matters of the government.

"We have been fighting for the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and will continue to do so," Karat told the media soon after the results were announced.

The Left, analysts said, is certain to step up pressure on the government on issues like Foreign Direct Investment in insurance and retail sectors, strategic partnership between India and the US, India's stand on Iran's nuclear issue, proposed hike in prices of kerosene, petrol, diesel and cooking gas, airport modernisation and pension reforms.

But divergences on these issues would not lead to rocking of the boat of the UPA, agree analysts as well as sources in Left parties and Congress.

In fact, a hint of this was given by Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader, when he said Thursday that there was no reason to assume that the Left parties would be unreasonable in its electoral victory and Congress will be unnecessarily timid.

Analysts said the basic chemistry between the Left parties and Congress would be strengthened following the election results.

Ever since Left parties extended support from outside to a Congress-led government after the 2004 general elections, a view often aired in certain circles is that the Left would withdraw support to Congress at the time of assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala as it would be difficult to convince the voters in the two states about the apparently conflicting stands of backing the Congress at the national level and fighting that party in the states.

But the Left's victory in West Bengal and Kerala has conclusively proved that the existing equation at the national and state levels brought no damage at least to the Left parties, analysts pointed out. In view of this, the Left would not do anything to threaten the stability of the Congress-led government, they added.

Although Congress had lost to the Left Front in Kerala and West Bengal, the Left could not be unmindful of the fact that Congress has not fared badly in Kerala, retained power in Assam and Pondicherry overcoming anti-incumbency factors. Congress has done reasonably well in Tamil Nadu by securing 30-odd assembly seats which has made the party's support critical to a minority government of DMK, a constituent of UPA, in that southern state, according to analysts.