Yechury backs decision banning Coca-Cola, Pepsi

Kochi, Aug 19 (UNI) CPI-M Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury today said the Kerala Government was justified in banning the manufacture of soft drinks if these plants were found to be reason for water level depletion in those areas.

Addressing a function here today to mark the launch of the Kerala edition of the CPI-M's weekly paper 'People's Democracy', Mr Yechury said the state government was free to take the decision, considering the local conditions .

In this context, he said a controversy was needlessly created on the Kerala Government's decision to ban the sale and manufacture of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola while the CPI-M Government in West Bengal had said that it would not ban these beverages.

He noted that no such hue and cry had been raised when the BJP-ruled Gujarat and the Congress-ruled Punjab decided to ban the sale of colas.

Mr Yechury said the CPI-M had called for uniform and compulsory laws and standards for all soft drinks in the country. While all were welcome to invest in the country, they will have to adhere to the local conditions, he added.

On the CPI-M's stand on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Mr Yechury said ''there were no separate V S line, Buddhadeb line or Yechury line. There is only the party line, which clearly indicates that the foreign investment must satisfy the three conditions; increasing country's productivity, upgrading technology and increasing employment.'' Stating that this would be the line, the party would follow, be it in West Bengal, Kerala or Delhi, Mr Yechury added that the foreign capital flowing into West Bengal was satisfying all these three conditions.

He said the CPI-M had also asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to announce these three conditions as essential for any FDI in the country.

''The Central Government, given its class character, is reluctant to do it. It is our job to rouse the people to raise their voice on this issue,'' he added.

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