Friday, March 3 2006 16:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of 'completely altering' the independent foreign policy pursued by Jawaharlal Nehru, veteran CPI(M) leaderJyoti Basu today(Mar 3,2006) dubbed the Centre as 'followers of America'.

"The present Government, it seems to me, is thinking that without America nothing can be done. What Nehru did, they are completely altering it," Basu told reporters when asked to comment on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"It seems to me, that they (the UPA Government) are great followers of America. The man (US president Geroge Bush) is a terrorist. Everybody knows what he did and what he is trying to do in Iran," Basu said after his party's state committee meeting here.

The former West Bengal Chief Minister also described as 'shameful' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh setting aside protocol and receiving Bush at the Delhi airport.

"Our Prime Minister went to receive him (Bush) at the airport. It is shameful for India. It never happened during the earlier Congress regimes," the nonagenarian CPI(M) politburo member said.

When asked if the CPI(M) would review its support to the Centre, Basu expressed his party's helplessness citing the lack of an alternative.

"What we can do? We have no other alternative at the moment," he said.