Tripura CM blames Manmohan for economic recession

Agartala, Jul 25 (UNI) Tripura Chief Minister and CPI(M) Politburo member Manik Sarkar has lashed out at the Congress and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the economic recession in the country.

Addressing a party rally at Melagarh, some 50 kms from here yesterday, he said the Prime Minister was proceeding to ''lease the country's sovereignty to the US, which would not be beneficial for the common people in any way.'' ''US President George Bush has never got any loyalist in Asia like Mr Singh who compromised his country's interest for the benefit of the US. The Americans have been trying to dominate the oil-producing nations in West asia and for this purpose they need a reliable partner in Asia,'' Mr Sarkar underlined.

''The Bush administration has planned to destablise India's economy and capture the Indian market,'' Mr Sarkar said.

He claimed that Vietnam was attacked by the US and now Cuba and Iran were under its domination and if India became a partner, the US would be able to snatch all the resources from the West Asia.

He claimed that the Northeastern region had huge deposits of coal and abundance of water resources, which could be used for power generation for the next 200 years in cost-effective manner.

However, the Congress-led UPA government was not interested in harnessing the resources to meet the power demand of the country, he alleged.

''The Prime Minister has become over-enthusiastic to go for nuclear power generation with the US, which would not be viable for India in any way. The Leftists have been opposing the deal since long but finally the UPA government won the trust vote in Parliament by purchasing MPs,'' the Chief Minister stated.

Referring to the expulsion of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the CPI(M), Mr Sarkar said, ''The party is always greater than an individual, whoever he may be, and Mr Chatterjee's response to the party in regard to withdrawal of support from the government was not expected.'' UNI BB DPM JT UCS1319