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Abject failure to check price rise: CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

Campaign to expose Congress-led government’s “surrender of national interests on the nuclear deal”

— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

(From right) Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, M.K. Pandhe, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat, S. R. Pillai, Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during the Polit Bureau meeting in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday attacked the Manmohan Singh-led government for its abject failure to tackle inflation.

After a meeting of the party’s Polit Bureau, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told newspersons that the CPI(M) after consultations with other Left parties would launch an intensive joint campaign to expose the Congress-led government’s “surrender of national interests on the nuclear deal and its failure to curb price rise.”

Mr. Karat read out a statement issued by the Polit Bureau on “Inflation and Price Rise,” noting that the government, wedded to neo-liberal policies, had refused to take urgent steps necessary to curb price rise and provide relief to people.

He said that the rise in prices of essential commodities was putting a crushing burden on people. The poor were finding it difficult to survive given the rising cost of food stuffs.

“It is unfortunate that at a time when the government should be gearing up to take comprehensive steps to tackle inflation and price rise, the Prime Minister and the Congress leadership are more concerned about fulfilling their commitment made to President Bush to operationalise the nuclear deal.

The Polit Bureau adopted the tough stand as spelt out by Mr. Karat a few days ago in his signed write-up in the party organ, People’s Democracy, where he sharply criticised the UPA government for its abject failure to check price rise.

Making no attempt to hide his disenchantment with the nation’s ruling leadership, he had said: “The country is watching the spectacle of a leadership, which is obsessed with its vision of becoming a strategic partner of the U.S. and fulfilling its commitment to an American President, who is reviled around the world and has the least credibility within his own country.”

Apprehending that the BJP and other communal forces could exploit the situation, he had expressed the hope that the Congress leadership would realise the consequences of pursuing a pro-U.S. line that could only benefit the rightwing communal forces in the country.

The Polit Bureau’s tough stand against the nuclear deal and criticism of the government on price rise came a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi put her party in election mode, asking leaders to chalk out strategies in next two months for the coming Assembly elections and a possible early Lok Sabha poll.

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