Tuesday, January 11 2005 18:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: A day after its supporting partner CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) came down heavily on the Congress-led ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) at the Centre for the escalating price of commodities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Jan 11, 2005) said that his Government was committed to check price rise.

"My Government is fully seized with the task of controlling price rise," Prime Minister said, addressing Congress workers' rally at Rabindra Sarovar stadium in Kolkata.

Attributing the price rise to prevailing drought in some parts of the country to some extent, Singh said, "Now we have been gradually able to come out of such a situation".

In what was considered a reply to the CPM accusation against the UPA Government diluting the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the Prime Minister said that his Government was running in accordance with the CMP, adding that 80 per cent of the pledges made in the Congress manifesto had been incorporated in the CMP.

He said that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi had advised him to ensure that promises made in the CMP would have to be implemented, "and we are acting accordingly".