Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

“People looking for alternative development model”

— PHOTO: R.M.RAJARATHINAM.

Appeal: D. Raja, CPI, national secretary, addressing an election meeting in Tiruchi on Friday. P. Kumar, AIADMK candidate for Tiruchi constituency, is in the picture.

TIRUCHI: The non-Congress, non-BJP coalition would provide an alternative development path to the country fulfilling the expectations of the people, said D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India.

“There was not much difference between the policies, both economic and foreign, pursued by the Congress and the BJP. The people of the country were looking for not only an alternative government but also an alternative development model,” Mr. Raja said addressing media persons here on Friday.

Whenever necessary, the two parties have come together to support the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by each other. The Congress supported the BJP move to increase foreign direct investment in the insurance sector. Though BJP opposed the Indo-US 123 Agreement in the Parliament, its leader L. K. Advani now says that an agreement signed between two nations cannot be discarded.

The Congress also attempted to weaken the public sector undertakings through disinvestment, which was strongly opposed by the Left parties. The global economic slowdown did not have a big impact on India only because of the PSUs. But now the country was starting to feel the impact and there were large scale job losses. The Congress has failed to take adequate measures to prevent the crisis, he alleged.

Expressing confidence that an alternative coalition would come to power at the Centre, Mr. Raja said it would accord priority for agriculture, infrastructure and small industries.

Victory for the AIADMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu would help usher in an alternative coalition government at the Centre. He rejected the argument that the alliance was an opportunistic one and maintained that the Congress and BJP feared defeat and were indulging in mudslinging against regional parties that take independent decisions.

“It’s a positive development that regional parties which have had bitter experiences with the Congress and BJP are coming to us,” he said.

On the Sri Lankan issue, Mr. Raja accused the Centre of adopting a ‘hands off’ approach and demanded that the government press for a political solution to the ethnic crisis. India should play a pro-active role and pressurise the Sri Lankan government to come out with a political package.

Both the Sri Lankan and Indian government have remained silent on the political solution and only talk of humanitarian assistance to the Tamils. There has been no ceasefire in Sri Lanka contrary to the claims of the Congress and the BJP, he said.

The “anti people” policies pursued by the Congress had only resulted in unemployment, price rise and increasing number of people becoming poor, the CPI national secretary and Rajya Sabha member D. Raja charged on Friday.

The economic policies of the Congress have not been pro-poor and went against the interest of the working class, he said while seeking support for the AIADMK Tiruchi Parliamentary constituency nominee P. Kumar at an election meeting organised here.

Claiming the Congress followed the same economic and foreign policies pursued by the BJP led NDA regime, Mr. Raja said that the policies of the BJP and the Congress had favoured the capitalist and the rich, while affecting the poor. The Left parties, he said, had consistently opposed the economic policies of the Congress as it went against the interest of the people. The anti-people policies pursued by the Congress only resulted in the rich becoming richer and poor becoming poorer.

The Congress had failed to provide due attention to the agriculture sector which affected the farming community. Though the Congress had cited hike in crude oil price as a reason for the rising prices, it could not check or control the price hike despite drastic fall in crude oil prices today.

By forging a strategic partnership with the United States and signing the nuclear deal with that country, India was unable to take an objective stand on various international issues.

The CPI district secretary, T. Indirajit, the party’s State Council member, M. Selvaraj, CPI-M district secretary, Sridhar, the candidate, P. Kumar spoke on the occasion.

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