‘Some compromises have to be made in a coalition’

Battling allegations of corruption against his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh candidly admitted he had to make “some compromises” to run a coalition government. HT reports.

Battling allegations of corruption against his government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh candidly admitted he had to make “some compromises” to run a coalition government. On the re-induction of DMK’s A Raja into the Cabinet in 2009 as telecom minister despite complaints against him, he said his hands were tied by “coalition politics”.

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“My compulsion is that I have to bear a lot because we cannot have elections every six months,” he said. “Some compromises have to be made in managing a coalition. A coalition government has to be viewed in a context that no single party has emerged to rule by itself,” he said, adding: “In a coalition, there is a coalition dharma. Obviously things are not entirely what I would like them to be. But quite frankly, I never felt like resigning. I have a job to do.”

DMK responded to PM’s comments in a positive manner and said it would not affect the tie-up. “I don’t think so. He has not said anything wrong about coalitions,” said DMK spokesman TKS Elongovan.

Singh ducked a googly on the random attack from within his party. “I do not get that impression (that the party is not backing him). In a democracy, there are views and discussion and when decisions are taken, our party stands united in support of the government,” he said. “I would like a cohesive party to support the government but I am not saying it is not happening,” he said.

The PM was more comfortable while expressing his confidence that Congress would perform well in the elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam. He was also confident that issues like price rise would not create tension between the party's ties with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal where Mamata Bannerjee is posing a challenge to the Left Front. He was confident of the party’s prospects in Left-ruled Kerala and in Assam where it has been in power for 10 years now.

But when asked about the possibility of winning Tamil Nadu where the DMK appears to be on the backfoot, the PM said: "I am not an astrologer" hastening to add he hoped the ruling coalition would win.