A meeting of the United Progressive Alliance leaders with the Left Front leaders is expected after April 23, in which a number of matters including the Supreme Court verdict on the Other Backward Classes quota issue, are likely to come up.
This would be the first UPA-Left meeting after the apex court judgment, which has seen division in the ruling alliance on the creamy layer issue.
There have been demands from constituents like Rashtriya Janata Dal that the government should go in for a review of the judgment, while allies like Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Pattali Makkal Katchi wanted a 'fair and just' review of the parameters that decide the criteria for OBCs.
The meeting could also be an occasion for consultations over the contentious issue of the Women's Reservation Bill, on which a consensus is eluding for long. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured women's groups last month that he would soon make yet another effort to evolve a consensus on the Bill, seeking to reserve 33 per cent seats for women, in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
UPA sources said that the meeting was being delayed as the Left parties have conveyed their preoccupation till April 23. With rising prices becoming a political hot potato, the issue is also expected to figure at the meeting.
This would be the first meeting of the UPA and Left leaders after the key outside supporters have thrown the government in a tight spot by reiterating their objections to the India-United States civil nuclear agreement.
Left parties have time and again warned the government against operationalising the deal and the same stand was reflected during the party Congresses of the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India Marxist held last month.
