Communist Party of India general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said the Opposition had decided to adopt a wait and watch policy with regard to the upcoming presidential elections and refrain from deciding on its candidate till the NDA announces its.
The recent meeting with attendance from 17 opposition parties had decided to unanimously support the candidate proposed by the NDA, if she or he has secular credentials. If not, the Opposition will field its own candidate, Mr. Reddy said, answering a question during the ‘Meet-the-Press’ organised by the Press Club, Hyderabad here on Monday.
A secular president is the need of the day, as there is pressing demand from 93% Kashmiris for implementation of the Article 370 which is their constitutional right. Mr. Reddy expressed doubts over the BJP coalition at the Centre raking up the Kashmir and Ayodhya issues next year, so as to reap electoral benefits in the 2019 polls.
On the ban on cattle trade for slaughter, Mr. Reddy said that it would hit the poor man’s nutrition, and termed it an attack on food habits of people. The ban would affect the dairy and leather industries in a big way, besides hitting farmers economically.
Mr. Reddy lambasted the Centre for its failure to keep any of its promises in three years’ rule. Though black money eradication, Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities were being touted as its achievements, the government had not succeeded in either of them, he observed.
All the decisions taken so far have been to the advantage of corporates. Though the work days under MGNREGS had been increased to 150 on paper, only 39 days of work was offered on an average. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not spoken about land issues even once, as against the first prime minister of Independent India Jawaharlal Nehru who would write to state governments to find out the progress of land reforms. Mr. Modi’s focus, instead, had always been on electoral wins in every state.
Mr. Reddy severely castigated the Centre on its policies on disinvestment, reservations, agriculture, corporates, price rise, labour reforms, land acquisition and others, and said they were ‘harmful to people’.
Communalism had grown by leaps and bounds, as was obvious from the attacks on Muslims and Dalits, and RSS was directly dictating the Government’s policies. Opposition was being threatened with the CBI and ED raids. Biggest blow had been dealt to the freedom of expression, especially by “wholesale purchase of media”, for manufacture of consent, Mr. Reddy added.
