Left not isolated after withdrawing support to UPA: Bardhan

Kochi, Jul 31 (UNI) Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary A B Bardhan today said the Left parties were not isolated after withdrawing support to the UPA Government and they wanted the Prime Minister to be a ''bonded slave'' not to them but to the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

Addressing the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Kerala state unit of the All India Youth Federation (AIYF) here, Mr Bardhan said nearly 10 other parties had joined hands with the Left to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP.

As per the CMP, the government should have adhered to an independent foreign policy and opposed unilateralism in the world, he said.

''We are not a blind opposition to the US. Nor are we stooges of China and Russia. India, under Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi, had followed an independent and non-aligned foreign policy and we wanted that to continue,'' he added.

Stating that the country was facing severe problems on the price rise and agricultural fronts, Mr Bardhan said instead of focussing on these problems, the UPA Government had put all its energies into furthering the nuclear deal with the US.

''Nuclear energy will not be a panacea to our energy problems. It is projected to meet only seven per cent of our energy needs by 2025,'' he added.

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