Left parties to comrades: Attack UPA govt policies

Patna, Aug 11 (UNI) The Left parties, which recently pulled the plug on the UPA government, today exhorted the comrades for launching a vigorous campaign against the UPA government's policies at the Centre.

After addressing the Left party workers' meeting here, the top brass of the CPI and CPI(M) constituted a five-member state level presidium for initiating a political campaign against the ''flawed'' policies of the Centre.

the smeeting was attended by the workers of CPI, CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), All India Forward Bloc and others.

The presidium, comprising state secretaries of all the four Left parties and the convenor of the Left Coordination Committee, had been entrusted with the responsibility to chalk out future strategies for sustained struggle against the UPA.

The panel would campaign against issues like the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal, neo-liberal economic policies, soaring prices and foreign policies of the Centre.

In the meeting, the national general secretaries of the four Left parties came down heavily upon the Centre for going ahead with the 123 deal, which they felt was against the nations interest.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau chairperson Prakash Karat said, '' The UPA is interested in signing such deal with America, even at the time of framing the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).'' He stated that the Left parties had strongly opposed any such move of the UPA government, which had assured ''friendly'' relation with trhe US.

Not only the proposed Indo-US nuke deal but also the UPA's foreign policies and strategic alliance with the US was a cause of concern for the Left parties, stated to Mr Karat.

He threw a volley of questions to Railway Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, raising doubts over the latter's intellectual clarity over the proposed nuke deal.

'' Mr Prasad is projecting himself as an expert of the nuke deal, but how much he understands it is an open secret, '' Mr Karat said.

CPI national general secretary A B Bardhan also shared the same sentiments against the nuke deal, stating that it had exposed the ''honesty'' of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He reiterated that the four Left parties and the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), comprising six political organisations, would strive together against the Union governments policies.

Mr Bardhan also raised doubts over the capability of the US to install nuclear reactor in India, saying it had failed to set up such reactor in its own territory during the past 17 years.

'' The power generation will hardly increase even after the country go ahead with the porposed 123 deal, '' he added.

Mr Abani Rai of RSP, General Secretary RSP T J Chandrachodan and other Left leaders were among others present in the meeting.

The party leaders also called for a nationwide strike on August 20 under the banner of various trade unions to protest the policies of the Centre.

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