March to condemn joint-naval exercise sets out

Chennai, Sep 5: Stepping up their protest against the five-nation naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, involving the US, the Left parties today took out a propaganda march to Visakhapatnam from here to create awareness on the 'implications' of the battle drill.

CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, who flagged off the march from Chennai harbour, said the Left parties were totally against the joint naval exercises as they were against country's territorial sovereignty.

He said government should halt 'military ties' with the US and withdraw from operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.

''The city was chosen as one of the venues to flag off the march as both Chennai and Visakhapatnam ports are on the east coast. Any naval exercises in this area would be against national interest,'' Mr Karat said.

The presence of nuclear-powered 'Nimitz' in the Bay of Bengal posed health concerns to people, he added.

UNI