CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said here on Saturday that he saw no prospects of mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha.
Talking to the media, Mr. Yechury said unless the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) withdrew their support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, there was no chance for a mid-term poll. Both the parties were extending support to the UPA from the outside, he said.
Two faces of the same coin
Stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were two faces of same coin -- corruption and scams -- he stressed on the need for a ‘Third Alternative’ to these forces and added that it would materialise before 2014 general elections.
The CPI (M) leader, however, was quick to say that there were no special attempts to constitute third alternative. His party was ready to join hands with any secular force.
Asked about Left unity, Mr. Yechury said the Communist parties were always waging a united struggle at the national level.
On Telangana issue, he held the Congress responsible for the muddle. The indecisiveness of the party had left the State in disarray and the development came to halt, he observed.
The CPI(M) leader was in the city to lay the foundation stone for the Makineni Basvapunnaiah Adhyayana Kendram here on Saturday.
CPI(M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu, CPI(M) central committee member Paturi Ramaiah, M. B. Adhyayana Kendram chairman P. Madhu, secretary Y. Venkateswara Rao, and others were present.
Slams Congress on pending projects
Khammam Staff Reporter writes: If the scams involving loot of crores of rupees of public money was curbed, all the pending irrigation projects in the country could be completed and the surplus river waters tapped at an optimum level to boost agricultural growth, said Mr. Yechuri.
He was addressing a public meeting held to mark the conclusion of the CPI (M)’s two-week long ‘Saagu Neeti Sadhana Rythu Maha Padayatra’ here on Saturday. “Dearth of funds” has become an oft-repeated phrase for the persons at the helm of affairs right from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy when it comes to completing irrigation projects, he said slamming the Congress governments at the State and the Centre for offering lame excuses in fulfilling the developmental aspirations of the people. On one hand, the government was doling out subsidies worth crores of rupees for big multinationals and on the other was withdrawing subsidies to the poor people.
It is hell bent on imposing burden on common man in the name of fiscal deficit by resorting price hike at regular intervals, he charged. “The CWG, 2G, 3G, CG (Coal Gate) and Jijaji multi-crore scams plundered public wealth and resulted in unbearable burden on common man,” he said accusing both the Congress and the BJP of having resemblance in terms of pursuing detrimental economic policies and corruption practices. The need of the hour was to build public movements to fostering political alternative. Taking a dig at the Congress government in the State, he alleged that it lacked commitment to complete the Dummugudem (Rajiv Sagar) project for which the foundation was laid in 2005.
He lauded the CPI (M) district leadership for organising the 14-day Rythu Padayatra covering a distance of over 300 km in the district to espouse the cause of farmers.
Party central committee member T. Veerabhadram, district secretary P. Sudarshan and others spoke.
