Left, UPA winning team, says FM

New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram, whose policies the Left Front opposes, on Thursday said the UPA and the Marxist parties will work together for three more years.

"There is no reason to assume that Left will be unreasonable in its victory and Congress will be unnecessarily timid. Both have their strengths and have worked together for two years. There is no reason for the two not to be able to work together for the next three years," he said after Left parties were set to come to power in West Bengal and Kerala.

Chidambaram said he has told Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Left parties were expected to form government in two out of five states that went to polls and the Congress supported parties in three out of five.

"And so we are as much of victors as the Left," he said.

When asked if the Congress would the join a DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu, he said, "I don't know. You are asking the wrong person. This is not the time to air private opinion."

"There can be more than one view but the party's decision will be final".

Talking on the freebies that were promised in the DMK-Congress election manifesto in Tamil Nadu, Chidambaram said the parties had promised to give an additional subsidy of Rs 1.50 per kg over the Rs 2.15 that the state government already provides on rice.

The state government procures it at Rs 5.65 per kg from the Centre.

Refusing to accept that selling rice at Rs two per kg as a freebie, Chidambaram said, "It’s a need that was felt by the state. There has been cases of starvation deaths and severe agrarian distress for the last three years."

He said, given the state's resources and the scope to raise it further, the scheme was feasible to implement.

"Whether it is desirable or not people will decide," he said.

About the promise to provide colour television, the Finance Minister said, the scheme could be implemented without being a burden on the state budget through an investment promise, supplier's credit and staggered implementation for three to four years.

Asked if the Centre would make a similar promise, he said "No we don't have to as the priorities of Centre and State differ."

"Centre’s priority is into the flagship schemes like primary education and healthcare, national employment guarantee schemes and Bharat Nirman."

"Why be judgmental of state's priorities. They are different from state to state," he said.