By IANS
New Delhi: Nearly a week after withdrawing support to the Congress-led government, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan Sunday said the Left parties should have done this earlier as the ruling coalition’s intentions to push the India-US nuclear deal forward were clear.
“The Left should have withdrawn its support earlier as the government’s intention on the nuclear deal had been clear all along,” Bardhan told reporters here.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was not merely pursuing an “anti-national” nuclear deal with the US and progressively becoming an ally of “the US imperialism”, but it had also been pursuing an anti-people policy that led to skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, he added.
Bardhan accused the government of indulging in horse-trading to lure MPs to back it in the trust vote. “The government is indulging in horse trading, the rates are astronomical,” he said.
A special two-day session of parliament has been convened July 21-22 by the UPA government to seek a trust vote after the four Left parties July 9 withdrew their legislative support to it over the India-US nuclear deal, reducing it to a minority.
The CPI leader made it clear that he along with his party MPs would vote against the government on the trust motion.
“We have asked our 10 MPs in the Lok Sabha to be present in parliament on July 21-22,” he said.
Bardhan also justified the Left’s decision to vote against the government along with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), dismissing criticism of any axis between them.
“Much has been made out to the Left’s decision to vote in line with the BJP to oust the government. But it is a red herring, thrown in to derail the main issue of nuclear deal,” said Bardhan.
“One should remember how many times the Congress voted in league with the BJP. They did it together to topple the V.P. Singh government, the H.D. Deve Gowda government as also the I.K. Gujral government,” Bardhan said.
Hours after Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Bardhan also talked of the Left parties establishing a contact with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to devise a joint strategy to vote against the government on nuclear
deal.
“We have also talked to Behenji (Mayawati) and have sought her views on the India-US nuclear deal. She is also against it and willing to coordinate with the Left on the issue,” said Bardhan.
Assailing the government for “targeting Mayawati” by giving green signal to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a charge-sheet against her in the Supreme Court in a corruption case, Bardhan said: “The government is using CBI as a political tool. The timing is so obvious. The intention is so clear.”