Left will ‘have to’ pull out: CPI

By IANS,

New Delhi : The Left parties will “have to” withdraw their support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and will decide the modalities of how to go about it Friday, said Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan.


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Accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government of spending its energy on the India-US civil nuclear deal instead of containing the rising inflation, Bardhan said the four Left parties would meet Friday and ask the government to give them a specific answer on whether it was going to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to finalise the India-specific safeguards agreement.

Addressing reporters after a meeting of the CPI central secretariat, Bardhan said: “Consistent with its principled stand, the Left will have to withdraw its outside support to the government. The CPI is proposing to other Left parties who are meeting Friday to consider the modalities of withdrawal of support.”

Bardhan, who was accompanied by his party colleague D. Raja, added: “The moment we come to know they are going to the board of governors (of the IAEA) we will withdraw support.”

The CPI and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) along with the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, which extend outside support to the Congress-led coalition, have been threatening to pull out if the government goes ahead with the nuclear deal.

Bardhan alleged that the government was carrying out a deceptive campaign over the advantages of the nuclear deal.

“The high-powered campaign over the nuclear deal was to divert attention to the deep pressing problems of inflation,” he said.

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