JD(U) for the fall of UPA on nuke, SEZ, retail issues

New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) The Janata Dal (United) today announced the launch of a nation-wide agitation against the Manmohan Singh government for pursuing dangerous policies on the Indo-US nuclear deal, special economic zones (SEZs), wheat imports and the retail sector.

These policies, which would have ''disastrous consequences'' for the people and the nation, were opposed not only by the JD(U) but by all non-Congress parties, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav told reporters.

Mr Yadav was making the statement at the end of a two-day meeting of his party's National Executive which passed separate resolutions on these issues.

The details of the agitation would be spelt out in a couple of days, he said.

Now that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had expressed their readiness to face early Lok Sabha elections on the nuclear deal, the Left parties should not delay carrying out its threat of withdrawing its support to the Centre, he said.

''We want the deal and the UPA government to go'' as the nuclear agreement amounted to India becoming a ''slave'' of the United States. The NDA was for strengthening bilateral relations with the US without compromising on its independent foreign policy, he said.

The UPA government was wasting its time on the nuclear deal, instead of paying attention to the worrisome developments in its neighbouring countries, be it Bangladesh, Myanmar or Pakistan.

While the SEZ policy had resulted in major land scams, wheat imports at a cost much higher than the minimum support price (MSP) for farmers had added to the miserable plight of the farming community, the JD(U) said.

The promotion of major retail chains was threatening the livelihood of 26 crore small tranders and their dependent family members, Mr Yadav said.

UNI