Bhubaneswar: The Communist Party of India (CPI) on April 6 ridiculed the claim made by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that his government had been able to create one crore jobs each year, describing it as "the biggest lie of 2003".

"It is the most cruel joke played on the people and workers who are facing closure, retrenchment and job insecurity," CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told a news conference.

Stating that the rate of growth of employment had come down, he said it was negative in the public sector, hardly one per cent in private sector and zero in agriculture.

"How can the Prime Minister say such a thing, which is the biggest lie of 2003 and is intended to hoodwink the people in states slated to go to polls soon," he said.

Asked to comment on poll prospects in the four states, Bardhan said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not meet a better fate there than what it encountered in Himachal Pradesh.

The CPI leader said his party had planned a month-long 'Bharat janjagran yatra' from April 8 with a three-fold purpose.

"We will campaign positively to defend national unity, integrity and brotherhood, the basis for which was secularism," he said.

PTI