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Our Bureau

Unfazed by opposition to policies from Left parties

New Delhi , July 1

As the Left parties step up their opposition to the Centre's policies, a senior minister in the Congress-led UPA administration has said the Government is ``not afraid of anybody'' and that it is on track to complete its full term in office.

Responding to the nine-page `charge sheet' framed by the Left parties, the Union Science and Technology Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, said, "We are not afraid of anybody. We will carry on implementing the Common Minimum Programme."

In an interview to the `Devil's Advocate' programme for CNN-IBN, Mr Sibal said the Government would debate with the Left and try to convince them. "We will do whatever we can to try and run the Government for five years. That's all," he added. "The Left has an ideology, the Left is not the Congress party, they are bound to criticise and they have the right to criticise," he said.

On suggestions that Dr Manmohan Singh must reinvent himself, Mr Sibal said he was a "different kind of Prime Minister" who enjoyed the respect that perhaps very few leaders get in the international community. He also sought to dismiss the perception that the HRD Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, and the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Ms Meira Kumar, had created their own agenda regarding reservations, rendering the prime minister helpless.

Asked about the longevity of the UPA Government, Mr Sibal said such questions should never be answered because any government could commit suicide but added he believed that this coalition would last 10 years.

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