'UPA's grim performance has shrunk people's expectations'

New Delhi, June 4 (UNI) The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), a UPA constituent, today said the grim performance of the two-year-old Congress-led government had shrunk the people's expectations and there was nothing to celebrate.

The Left parties in general and the AIFB in partciular did not expect much from the Congress-led dispensation at the Centre because they were aware of the 'class character' of this party, the AIFB Central Secretariat said in a statement after its three-day meeting.

Though the Left parties mounted pressure on the government to stick tothe Common Minimum Programme, which contained some people's programmes and forced them to bring issues of the farmers, workers, youth and women in the main agenda of the national governance, the party observed that the life of the common man had become 'more miserable'due to the steep price rise of essential commodities, the statement added.

The prices of food grains, construction materials, life saving medicines and other consumer items had gone beyond the reach of the people and the government miserably failed to check the price rise and the public distribution system was totally dismantled, it noted.

The petroleum prices were increased four times in the last two years citing international prices fluctuation and said it was hard to understand why the government was reluctant to rationalise the tax structure of the petroleum products.

The Finance Ministry was regarding oil sector as a 'milch cow' adding burden an already burdened common man, the statement said.

Regarding the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Asom and Pondicherry, the party said the results enabled the left parties to strengthen their political actions at the national level. The results also once again showed that the BJP was not an alternative to the Congress as it could not win a single seat in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The Left and other democratic parties were the alternative to the Congress, the party noted.

About the UPA government rejecting the Justice M K Mukherjee Commission report on the situation and circumstances relating to disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945, submitted to government in November 2005, the party said: ''It is strangs and shocking that the Congress-led UPA had rejected the Judicial Commission report without giving any explanation...the tendency of the Congress party was always to prove that Nataji died in an alleged air crash and bring his 'so called' ashes to India.'' The AIFB will launch a nationwide movement with the slogan ''Accept Commission Report, Reject Government Report'', the party said.

UNI MCN MA PM1955