Curb price rise before voting on Finance Bill: CPI(M)

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) In a veiled threat to the Manmohan Singh government, the CPI(M) today asked it to come up with ''positive action plans'' to curb price rise and expand the purview of farmers' loan waiver and relief schemes before voting on the Finance Bill, 2008 takes place in the Lok Sabha tomorrow.

''We hope that Finance Minister P Chidambaram will act on our six-point charter of demands to contain the abnormal price rise and come up with a positive and concrete initiative to ameliorate the problems of debt-ridden farmers in his reply to the discussion on the Finance Bill,'' CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told a news conference.

When asked if the Left parties were thinking of bringing in a cut motion in case Mr Chidambaram did not live up to their expectations, the CPI(M) leader said, ''Akalmand ko ishara kafi hota hai( a word to the wise is enough).'' The Left parties have already suggested to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put a ban on futures trading in food commodities and reduction of petroleum duties as part of their six-point demands, he added.

They also wanted the government to relax the land holding criteria for the loan wavers scheme to accommodate even farmers having more than two and a half acre holdings in rain-fed areas, he noted.

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