Left not to rock UPA government: post polls

New delhi, May 11: Despite their victory in West Bengal and Kerala and good performance in other states, the Left parties today said they would not rock the UPA government, but build ''more pressure'' on it for the implementation of pro-people provisions of the CMP.

The CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc, however, advised the Congress to learn a lesson from the assembly results and reverse all its ''anti-people'' policies and programmes that led to grave agrarian crisis, burgeoning unemployment, jobless growth and pro-US foreign policy shift.

Talking to UNI, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said,''the Left will not distrub the UPA government. It is not our intention... we will not rock the boat. We don't behave like others and create instability just to satisfy our whims and destabilise the governments. But we will continue our pressure on the Manmohan Singh government to implement the pro-people provisions in the CMP.'' Mr Bardhan, the veteran Communist leder and freedom fighter, said the voters had reposed faith in the Left.

''The massive mandate in favour of the Left in West Bengal, retaining power in Kerala, winning a good number of seats along with the allies in Tamil Nadu and making some gains in Assam and Pondicherry show that the people have hopes from us,'' he said.

''But the Left have a long way to go in central India, particulary in creating its base in Uttr Prades, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab'', he added.

The CPI veteran had a few words of advice for the Congress. ''It must realise that it can no more call the shots alone in India,'' he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, CPI National Secretary Shamim Faizi, asserted, ''the mandate is an endorsement of the position taken by the Left at the national level'' and added that the Left was already in the process of assessing the Manmohan Singh government's performance so far.

''It is being assessed by each of the four Left parties individually as well as collectively,'' he said.

CPI(M) Parliamentary group leader in the Lok Sabha, Basudev Acharia said, ''the people of West Bengal have positively supported the Left Democratic Front. They have endorsed achievements of the LDF during the last 29 years - implementaiton of land reforms, consolidation of the panchayati raj institutions, highest growth in agriculture in the country and huge investments flowing in for the industry.'' ''We won in Kerala too, because of our sustained struggle against the Oommen Chandy government's moves that destroyed our traditional industry, growing unemployment and mindless privatisation and liberalisation spree which drove farmers to commit suicide,'' Mr Acharia said.

Endorsing Mr Bardhan's assertion to increase presure on the Congress-led coalition to strictly adhere to the CMP, the CPI(M) leader said, the Left would be playing a more important role both inside and outside the parliament.

Forward Bloc General Secretary Debvrat Biswas said ''the Congress should introspect, learn proper lessons and reverse its anti-people economic policies which had made lakhs of people jobless.'' ''The Congress will also have to correct its course on foreign policy front and give up its pro-US foreign policy to support that country's strategic, commerce and trade interests. he added.

''However, there will be no immediate impact on the UPA government,'' he added.

UNI

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