Sitaram Yechury is my choice as next Finance Minister of India

Bizarre it may seem but I'm in all my senses. I believe / feel that Mr Sitaram Yechuri is the next Finance Minister of our country.

Why ? Simply because we have tested all other parties and their leaders as Prime Minister or Finance Minister but the Left Parties have never been tested in India.

And they have very interesting ideas to tackle recession, to pull out economy from the melt down. I'm not joking.

Just take a look at their manifesto released for the general elections 2009 .. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) claims in its manifesto at Page no 10 that the Indian Financial Sector was safe in these times of recession because of the interventions of the party as it didn't allowed the UPA Government to open it up. Then it elaborates its claims. However, most interesting part of their manifesto is where they talk about Financial Sector regulation (page 15 of the manifesto). If it is to be implemented, it will mean reversing the entire economic policy applied since 1991 said a friend of mine.

Another interesting aspect of the CPM manifesto is about imposing taxes on the elite of India. And in this regard I heard Mr Yechuri speaking very passionately on a news channel yesterday. Honestly speaking, watching that show gave me the idea of how India would be if a leftist leader like Sitaram Yechuri takes the oath of office and becomes Finance Minsiter? This is a question I would like to ask to every one.

I have another reason to believe why Mr Yechuri can become next Finance Minsiter ..?

I've my own prediction for this election and I would like to tell you on that basis that next Prime Minister will not be either from BJP or from Congress .. He/She willl be from some other party and another experiment of the coalition is going to be repeated. It's possible that BJP may support the govt from outside or Congress may join the government but none of them have their man at the helm of the affairs of our country. By the way, I'll share my predictions next time and continuously analyse it till the next government is formed.

Well, coming back to the issue .. I feel that the next government will be another rainbow coalition and will be supported by the Left Parties. And here I predict one more thing .. that this time the Left parties are not going to miss the bus and make another historical blunder as Comrade Jyoti Basu had termed after his party declined the offer of making him Prime Minister in 1996.

This time the Left Parties will join the new government, come what may and this will be done despite the fierce opposition by Comrade Prakash Karat. It's not only my feelings but of several other left leaders. They have a growing feeling that not joining the UPA government was a mistake. The CPM in particular and the Left Parties in general are bitterly divided on this issue. So when the next government will be formed, every party will seek its pound of flesh and the left parties will not remain an outcast. They are likely to ask for Ministries like Finance, Shipping, Railways and Rural Development. Mind you these are the minstries that caused most of the trouble for the CPM in Bengal particularly.

No, I've never been supporter of the left parties, not even in my dreams even. At the same time, its true that I've been a supporter of the ideology and feel that some of the ideas must get implemented. Only then, we can get justice to the the down trodden. Despite closely watching the politics of the Left Parties since my student days, I never supported CPM in particular and the Left Parties in general.

So my prediction is that in the coming elections, CPM and the Left Front will get a fair amount of seats in West Bengal and may be wiped out in Kerala. Yes, Mamta Di will get her quota of seats, and the TMC-Congress combine would get maximum 12-13 seats in West Bengal. In my opinion, that's the most optimistic scenario and therefore, I strongly differ with the newspapers who publish the stories of change being taking place in West Bengal. So Mamta Di will not be able to trounce the CPM-led combine and CPM alone can win little above 20 seats in the state.

So at the time of the formation of the new government, the West Bengal lobby will play a decisive role and Prakash Karat will be left alone (if he continued his wish of not joining the government). He would of course be supported by the Kerala lobby of the party but what kind of weight it would have is to be seen.

I'd like to see at least two persons from the CPM to take the oath of office - Mr Sitaram Yechuri & Mr Md. Salim. For rest of the two portfolios, your guess will be as good as mine.