No, prime Minister Vajpayee govt is voted out Motions A looking back For a new Govt Hectic parleys on

Political Correspondent

Left march on right track.  The uncertainty continues but the significance of the Left cannot be wished away any longer.. The AICC president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, has not yet been able to take a decision on heading the new alternative government and has now requested the West Bengal chief minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, to take the reins of power in his hand. According to Ms Gandhi, Mr Basu has himself declined the offer and said that he was not interested. However, this is a question that the CPI(M) itself has to address and Mr Basu will surely have to put forward this issue in front of the party central committee for it to take a final decision. Obviously, the CPI(M) and its successful coalition experience in West Bengal has proved no doubt that it can lead by example but without the numbers, the responsibility could be onerous and open to many questions. The Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has also proposed Mr Basu's name and it is now obvious that the CPI(M) will have to play a major role in the question of government formation. In this, the attitude of the Congress could be significant; by her very offer to Mr Basu, she has made it clear that the only way out of her own procrastination and the nation's bid to keep the BJP out of power, the CPI(M) holds the key to the next ``arrangement.'' Even the AIADMK leader, Ms Jayalalitha, who played the most significant and decisive role in dislodging the government, has gone on record in favour of Mr Basu. Everything right now seems to be in the stages of permutations and combinations, but as history has proved time and again and as had been foretold by Mr Basu himself, the CPI(M) now has a ``major and more significant role'' to play. The new government and the way it comes about will mark a definite onward thrust in the Left movement of the country which will go a very long way in the consolidation of the movement in the country.