Monday, June 27 2005 17:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress today (Jun 27, 2005) downplayed the Left parties' refusal to attend the Coordination Committee meeting with the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) on disinvestment issue saying their concerns would be addressed after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's return from a sojourn in Shimla in the next three-four days.

The party, heading the UPA coalition, also saw no wrong in DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) chief M Karunanidhi's assertion that the Common Minimum Programme should be "strictly adhered to".

"I don't think any problem is going to be so big enough to undermine the basic objective of the UPA to strengthen secular politics and fighting the communal forces", AICC (All India Congress Committee) Media Department chief Ambika Soni told reporters in New Delhi.

She said that various political parties had come together under the UPA on the common goal of strengthening secular politics. But, at the same time, they have their own agenda and political compulsions, she said.

Asked whether there would be a rethink or review of the decision to dilute Government stake in BHEL, Soni said it depended on the Government.

After the Left parties wrote a letter to Gandhi stating that they would not be attending the Coordination Committee meetings any longer, the UPA chairperson spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who in turn talked to CPM (Communist Party of India Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya.