CPI Par march on Nov 23, general strike on Dec 14

Lucknow, Oct 16: Communist Party of India(CPI) today announced to hold Parliament march on November 23 and general strike on December 14 against the pro-rich economic policies of the Central government.

''We will force the Centre to shed its pro-rich economic policcies by agitation and fighting on the streets for the common man,'' claimed CPI secretary and Leader of the Parliamentary Party Gurudas Das Gupta here.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Das Gupta said there were at least three million job vacanies in different government and non-government organisations in the country but the Centre was not interested in filling these.

''We held several rounds of meetings with the Prime Minister and other concerned departments but nothing could be resolved,'' he lamented.

To a poser on whether the November 23 and December 14 agitations were part of a 'shadow boxing' match between the CPI and the Congress, the CPI leader claimed that due to their efforts and stiff resistance, several anti-poor laws could not be passed in Parliament.

''It is better to be in the government to force the government to consider their demands rather than withdrawing support and giving an opportunity to the communal forces to regain power'', he said. He asserted that the Left parties did not want to force mid-term polls on the country.

Alleging that the UPA government was not following the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), Mr Das Gupta said the recent statements of prime minister Manmohan Singh during his foreign tour on economic policies was anti-people. ''We will raise the issue in the next session of Parliament,'' he said.

UNI