Indian coalition braced for resignations
INDIA: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faced a crunch day Friday
in his bid to drive through economic reforms, with a one-time coalition
ally set to formally withdraw support from his beleaguered government.
Barring an unexpected last-minute compromise, six ministers from the
regional Trinamool party were to resign their posts in New Delhi and its
19 lawmakers will end their uneasy alliance inside the coalition, which
came to power in 2009.
The move will leave Singh’s Congress party running a minority
government, dependent on outside support from other regional parties and
vulnerable to falling before the scheduled date for the next national
elections in 2014.
“We have enough friends and we will continue working for the greater
good of the economy,” reformist Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told
reporters on Thursday, indicating Congress had no intention of
compromising.
Years of tension between Congress and Trinamool exploded last week
after Singh’s government announced a string of reforms including
allowing foreign supermarkets into the retail sector and hiking the
price of subsidised diesel.
Fiery Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee initially gave the government
72 hours to withdraw them, then announced on Tuesday that her party
would quit on Friday unless her demands were met. “The chairperson of
the TMC (Trinamool) clearly spelt out the three issues,” vice-president
and spokesman Derek O’Brien told AFP, saying the supermarket reform and
changes in diesel and gas policy should be reversed.
If the demands were not met by 3:00 pm (0930 GMT) on Friday,
Trinamool would complete its withdrawal, he explained. Banerjee has said
she is “totally against” the idea of opening India’s retail sector to
global chains such as Walmart and is angered by the hike in diesel
prices. She has accused the left-of-centre Congress party of being
“anti-poor”. On Thursday, shopkeepers, traders and labourers blocked
railway lines and closed markets across the country in a day of protest
organised by trade unions and opposition parties.AFP |
