Left puts UPA govt on notice on reform, labour policies

New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) Putting the UPA on notice, the Left parties today warned the Manmohan Singh government in the Lok Sabha against neglecting their views despite enjoying their outside support as this ''cannot go on for long.'' Raising the issue of nation-wide workers' strike to protest against the economic and labour policies of the government, the Left parties said the UPA had proved to be no different from the previous NDA rule as both were pro-rich and pro-reform in utter disregard of the working class.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi responded to the concerns of the Left parties, whose views were shared by a number of opposition members, stating that the Bill for providing social security to the unorganised sector workers would be brought in the Budget session of Parliament.

The Left and the Samajwadi Party MPs, however, dissatisfied with the contentions of Mr Dasmunsi, staged a walkout and stayed away from the proceedings during the two call attention issues that were taken up at 1225 hrs and 1300 hrs.

The Left and SP members had staged a walkout during question hour as well on the same issue as Speaker Somnath Chatterjee did not allow them to raise the matter of today's nation-wide general strike.

Mr Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), Mr Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M), Mr Ramjilal Suman (SP) and Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav (RJD) took the government to task for not fulfilling its promises in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) for the welfare of the working class, particularly those in the unorganised sector, including agriculture.

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