UPA-Left's truce signals 'bad times' for nation: Shiv Sena

Mumbai, Oct 11 (UNI) Shiv Sena, a key constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has said the 'truce' between the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its Left allies over operationalisation of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, augurs bad times for the nation.

''Saamna'', the party mouthpiece in an editorial published in today's issue, said each of the UPA coalition partners had an agenda of their own and they want an election as per their own convenience. ''The only way to teach the power hungry politicians and save the country from bad times is to teach them a lesson in elections,'' according to the editorial.

''It is really annoying when these power hungry politicians speak about national interest,''the editorial said.

Hitting out at the UPA allies like Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the paper, of which Sena supremo Bal Thackeray is the editor, said both of them do not want immediate mid-term polls to protect their own interests.

'' Mr Prasad will not be able to win even ten Lok Sabha seats in Bihar at this juncture while Mr Pawar is keen to increase his tally of MPs to at least 20 to prepare for his next political game.

Hence, he needs time to make preparations to double his existing numbers in the Lok Sabha,'' the editorial said.

The paper said the people are feeling let down over the inefficiency of the governments at the centre and the state. ''The Congress and its allies are living in a fool's paradise by dreaming of coming to power again as they have done nothing for the people especially farmers and labour class in their present tenure. Law and order is bad and unemployment is on the rise,''the paper added.

The paper described the current stand of the UPA-Left that even though differences over the deal remain, there is no immediate danger to the government's survival, as 'childish'. ''It is like husband and wife staying together despite getting sanction for divorce,''it said.

The paper felt that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi sounded the election bugle by publicly rapping the opponents of the nuclear deal. ''The Left parties again threatened the government with dire consequences. But, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee cooled down the tempers. They are again meeting on October 22 and the Left have said they do not intend to pull down the government,'' the editorial said.

According to the editorial, government says there is no going back on the deal while the Left says it will not allow operationalisation of the deal. ''Despite this, the government has survived. Let the poor, illiterate citizens of the country know what deal both the warring groups have arrived at to ensure that government has managed to live to see another day,''the paper added.

''IAEA Chief Mohammad El Baradei is presently touring the country and surely he has not come on a sight seeing trip of Mumbai and Delhi. Surely, he is here to discuss the nuke deal'', the paper said.

UNI