New govt struggles to forge a common working agenda

Manmohan Singh, sworn in as India's 13th prime minister on Saturday at the head of the left-leaning United Progressive Front alliance, will have to pull along such contrasting allies as hardline Marxists from West Bengal state to Laloo Prasad Yadav, the maverick leader of Bihar state's Rashtriya Janata Dal, they said.

The first draft of the working agenda -- the alliance's basic manifesto -- has focused on policies such as cheap loans to farmers, aid for the poor and taking profitable state firms out of the privatisation programmes.

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The outgoing Hindu nationalist government came under furious attack from leftist leaders for selling off government's stakes in profitable state firms including in the strategic oil and telecom sectors.

The draft also says the coalition "rejects the idea of automatic hire and fire."

It also talks about a guaranteed job to every rural worker for 100 days and increasing federally administered taxes on the middle class and channelling these to provide education to the rural poor.

The emphasis on agriculture stems from Congress's stunning electoral defeat of the ruling Hindu nationalists, who were swept out on a tide of rural anger at being left out of India's economic boom, analysts say.

At the same time, the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) has struck a balance by pledging to welcome foreign investors, ramping up infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports, and cutting back the fiscal deficit.