Wednesday, June 29 2005 09:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lucknow: As long as the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) is followed in true spirit, the Left support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government will continue, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) General Secretary Prakash Karat said yesterday (Jun 28, 2005).

"We are always asked if the Left support will continue in the wake of ideological differences with the Congress. I maintain that the Government will stay as long as the CMP is implemented in true spirit," Karat said at a seminar on the 'Completion of UPA's one year in power and the Left' in Lucknow.

The Left was not prepared to compromise on core issues and "abandon the objectives" with which the Government was installed in place of the "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led communal forces", he said.

It would be difficult to accept the UPA as another version of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that was removed from power with a "great deal of hard work by the Left and other parties in the last Lok Sabha elections, the CPM leader said.

Admitting that the "UPA did register certain achievements in the field of external affairs" and social sector programs during the past year in power, Karat said the "larger issues" still needed to be addressed.

"Our stress is on education and employment... but, sadly the present Government on the lines of the erstwhile NDA has started toeing the line of capitalist forces and encouraging liberalisation of the economy, which only serves the interest of about 10 per cent of our population," he said.

It was unfortunate that the Government was thinking of 100 per cent FDI in the retail sector employing seven per cent workforce, he added.

On the BHEL controversy, Karat said the profit-making public Sector Units (PSU) is one of the country's best companies with a surplus of Rs 5,000 crore and there was no point in selling its stake.

There is no justification in disinvesting profit-making navratna PSUs and we hope that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi would look into the issue after returning from Shimla, he said.

It was a clear violation of the CMP and the Left would not budge from its stand in the matter, he added.

The Government has prepared a list of 35 PSUs to be disinvested and it was not as if the process would end at BHEL as companies like oil India were next in the line, he said.

He said the BJP-led NDA worked at finishing the public sector and hence, the Left wants the Government to concentrate on reforming the public sector not disinvesting it.

The Left parties, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, were elected with the maximum strength ever since 1952 and the electorate, which voted for us, would obviously like its own issues to be addressed, he said.

He also slammed the Government for hiking the petrol and diesel prices as it would only give rise to the prices of essential commodities and inflation, hitting the common man.

The issues of public interest as incorporated in the CMP must be addressed with genuine intention by the Government, in order to respect the people's mandate, he said.