Credit is ours: Yechury on UPA govt performance, takes a dig at PM

Ahmedabad, Dec 9 (UNI) CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury today claimed that ''whatever good measures'' the UPA government has taken was due to ''pressure'' from the Left parties.

''It was Dr Manmohan Singh who had initiated the reforms process in 1990 and advocated privatisation, globalisation etc and it was the same Dr Singh who was talking of not divesting profit-making PSUs in his Independence Day speech. Was it because of our pressure or did he have a change of heart and mind,'' he asked.

His statement came in reply to a reporter's query on if the UPA government was being prevented by the Left against taking any developmental measures.

Mr Yechury was addressing a press conference at the IIM, Ahmedabad where he had been invited to deliver a lecture.

He said the several 'jan kalyan' schemes of the UPA government like the Adivasi adhikar, farmers' schemes, and so on had been done at the behest of the Left parties.

Claiming that it was his party that objected to the 'creamy layer' in reservations, he said they were the first to raise the issue of the creamy layer, while others were trying to restrain them, saying it will divide the OBCs. ''Thankfully, the Supreme Court also agreed with us,'' he said.

Mr Yechury spoke to first year IIM students on the 'Role of Youth in the Social and Political Environment' in the country.

He said it was a relevant topic as 54 per cent of India's population was below the age of 25.

UNI MMG MJ VD BD1709