Left Parties to oppose SBI (Amendment) Bill: Karat

Kochi, Aug 25 (UNI) Declaring that the union Cabinet Decision to dilute the government's stake in the State Bank of India from 58 per cent to 51 per cent was not acceptable to the Left Parties, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat today warned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to forget that he is running a minority government.

Addressing a massive public rally here this evening, Mr Karat said the Left Parties will vote against the SBI (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

''Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr P Chidambaram are not learning any lessons from the past two years. This decision of the cabinet to dilute the government stake in the SBI, which is the largest bank in the country, is not acceptable to us. We will vote against it in Parliament and the government will not be able to get it passed without our support,'' Mr Karat said.

He added that Dr Singh must realise that his is not a majority government but one which is dependent on the support of the Left parties to continue.

''If the government continues to bring such policies, the Left feels free to oppose them and halt them from being implemented,'' he added.

Citing the Left parties opposition to the disinvestment of BHEL, NLC and NALCO, Mr Karat said so long as the Left parties were supporting the UPA Government, they will not allow the sale of the shares of the profit-making PSUs.

Exhorting the people to come out in full support of popular movements to be launched by the Left parties in the coming days against the government's anti-people policies, Mr Karat said it was the Left Front's endeavour to present to the people a ''national alternative'' to the Congress and the BJP.

On foreign policy issues also, Mr Karat reiterated that the UPA Government has to maintain an independent foreign policy and correct the ''pro-US'' tilt evident since its policy in the past one year.

''In the strategic partnership announced during the prime Minister's US visit last July, everyone knows who is the senior partner and who is the junior partner,'' he said.

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