Bardhan demands resignation of Home Minister

Patna, Nov 27 (UNI) The CPI today demanded resignation of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil in the wake of last night's most horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which claimed more than a hundred lives.

General Secretary of the party, A B Bardhan, told mediapersons here that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai had exposed the ''failure'' of the Central agencies working under the Home Ministry in providing required intelligence inputs to avert such disruptive strike by the anti-national elements.

''Mr Patil should take moral responsibility and demit his office forthwith as he has failed to tone-up the internal security arrangement to ensure the protection of life and property of the common men,'' he said adding the morale of anti-national elements was high due to the soft stand of the Centre towards growing terrorism in the country.

Mr Bardhan took pot-shot on Finance Minister P Chidambaram for his claim that India would not be affected by the global recession as the country had enough strength in its economy which would meet such challenges without any hiccups.

More than five lakh workers of textile industries had lost their jobs due to recession, he added.

The CPI leader took strong exception to the move of the BJP for intervention of Election Commission to prevent the Centre from announcing the price cut of petrol and diesel.

There was no point to make the masses suffer from high price of petroleum products due to the ongoing Assembly elections in a few states, he said adding the Centre could announce reduction in price of petrol and diesel after seeking permission from the Election Commission.

When asked about the possible alliance with other parties in view of coming Lok Sabha election, Mr Bardhan said his party would contest the election alongwith TDP in Andhra Pradesh while with AIADMK in Tamilnadu.

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