Credit is ours: Yechury on UPA performance

Ahmedabad, Dec 9: 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 processin 1990 and advocated privatisation, globalisation etc and it was thesame Dr Singh who was talking of not divesting profit-making PSUs inhis Independence Day speech. Was it because of our pressure or did hehave a change of heart and mind,'' he asked.

His statement came in reply to a reporter's query on if the UPAgovernment was being prevented by the Left against taking anydevelopmental 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 governmentlike the Adivasi adhikar, farmers' schemes, and so on had been done atthe 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 thecreamy layer, while others were trying to restrain them, saying it willdivide 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