The government is yet to seek a vote of confidence in the House, but as far as the communists are concerned, the battle for parliament has already begun.
Left hits streets with attack on PM; Bardhan says bazaar rate per MP is Rs25 crore
NEW DELHI: The government is yet to seek a vote of confidence in the House, but as far as the communists are concerned, the battle for parliament has already begun. The Left parties hit the streets on Monday, flagging off their campaign with a blistering attack on prime minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress, but strangely desisted from attacking both UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the BJP.
Countering the charge that the communists were voting with the BJP to defeat the government on the floor of parliament, Left leaders attacked the Congress for its inability to contain the BJP and alleged that the Congress joined hands with the saffron party to bring down the VP Singh government in 1989.
“Those who joined hands with the BJP are now trying to teach us,” they said.
Leaders of the four Left parties addressed a public meeting here — their first after withdrawal of support — explaining the reasons for pulling the plug, going ahead with the nuclear deal and failure to contain rising prices. They said rallies and meetings will be held across the country in the coming days to expose the UPA government.
A Bharat bandh is being called soon in league with various trade unions. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat reiterated his resolve to topple the government. “We will do everything to pull down the government. We are going to the people,” he said adding a Third Front was necessary.
He said all those who are against the Congress and the N-deal will rally together to give a befitting answer to the government.
“Congress slogan was ‘Congress ka haath aam admi ke saath, abhi hai Congress ka haath America ke saath’,” said Karat. In the US Congress, only 20-25% people support Bush now. Minority Bush is having a deal with a minority prime minister,” said Karat.
“We told them (government) to control inflation, but the Congress’ preference is for Bush.”
“The Left will not allow India to become a junior partner of the US. We told them if you go ahead with the deal the BJP may take advantage, so we agreed to the UPA-Left nuclear committee…and you saw the result. The Congress says we can generate energy from the US nuclear reactors. But that will be costly. Coal-based power will cost Rs2.5 per unit whereas nuclear energy will cost Rs5.50 per unit,” he said. The Marxist leader said the government now wants to bring FDI in agriculture, education and banking sector, but the Left will oppose the bill in parliament.
CPI general secretary AB Bardhan made a scathing attack on the Congress managers for resorting to horse-trading to win the trust vote.
Alleging that a huge amount of money was being paid to buy votes, Bardhan said: “I have not seen Rs25 crore in my life, not even Rs1-2 lakh. But I am told the bazaar rate for MPs is now Rs25 crore.”
Criticising the efforts being made to get jailed MPs to vote during the trust vote, he said: “Efforts are afoot to bring in even the convicted MPs, what kind of politics is this?”
k_benedict@dnaindia.net
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