Thursday, December 29 2005 18:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In an apparent attempt to act as a pressure group within the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), two constituents - Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)- today (Dec 29, 2005) announced the formation of an informal group within to 'review' the implementation of the coalition's Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has had meetings with leaders of UPA allies in recent days, including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, JMM leader Shibu Soren and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, told reporters that the 'non-Congress, non-Left' parties would like to deliberate on the implementation of CMP and other relevant issues and give suggestions to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The Labour Minister's comments were echoed in Patna by Prasad, who said that the government has to run for five years and there was need for parties to come together for review on CMP as to what more needs to be done.

Reacting to the development, Congress said there were no cracks in the coalition and described such reports as 'rumours'.

Rao, who heads the five-member TRS in the Lok Sabha and has a grouse over not achieving his separate Telangana state, said, "Twenty months have passed since UPA came to power. We have made promises in the CMP. We would like to review the implementation of the Programme and give our suggestions to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi".

Denying that the parties are forming a 'pressure group', Rao said the aim is to strengthen UPA so that the alliance can complete its five-year term smoothly.

Rao said, "There is no politics and conspiracy in this. We all want the government to continue in power for five years and do well. We are doing this on a positive note".

The meeting of the group, likely to take place sometime in January, would also discuss how 'coalition dharma' was followed in the last 20 months, Rao said.

He, however, did not give either the number or names of parties that would be part of the exercise.

Prasad said that it is the responsibility of all parties to ensure that CMP is implemented in letter and spirit.

"We have to run the government for five years. We need to come together to do this. How the programme (CMP) is implemented; more needs to be done on this. We have to work on all this, besides the Ministry related work," he said.

Maintaining that the UPA-Left coordination committee is a mechanism only for the Left parties, Rao said there is greater need for coordination among partners of the coalition.

He cited Bihar poll outcome as an example where UPA lost power for 'lack of coordination'.

Besides the implementation of CMP, the meeting would also discuss the political developments like cash for query scam and subsequent expulsion of MPs and other relevant issues.