Wednesday, March 15 2006 10:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Left parties yesterday(Mar 14, 2006)night accused the UPA Government at the Centre of violating the Common Minium Programme (CMP) on several major issues and charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with being 'intellectually dishonest'on the issue of Indo-US ties.

Participating in a discussion with anchor Karan Thapar in 'India Tonight' programme on CNBC television channel, the CPI(M) and CPI warned the government of 'very serious consequences' if 'violations' of CMP continued.

To questions on Indo-US relations, including nuclear deal, CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said the Prime Minister is 'slapping his own face'.

"There have been a series of debates in the House. One the one hand, he (the Prime Minister) says he is not for regime change. But on the other, India becomes director of the International Centre for Democratic Initiative which is funded by CIA.

This position cannot be defended even by Congress in Parliament."

"The stand taken in Parliament and the agreement entered into with the US becomes ludicrous and untenable and shows that the Prime Minister is not being intellectually honest", Basu said.

In the context of the issue of regime change, he said "it is now becoming increasingly clear that Iraq will be repeated in Iran.

CPI national secretary D Raja said the Prme Minister spoke of enlightenbed national interest in shaping India's foreign policy but charged that the stand taken on Iran's nuclear programme at the IAEA was 'against the feelings of the people of India'.

"The Prime Minister, by doing this, is creating real problems for Congress and for himself", Raja said. Expressing resentment over the government's airport privatisation, allowing FDI in retail sector and cutting EPF rate, the two Left leaders alleged these are 'breaches' of CMP.

Basu warned that the Government 'should be prepared to face very serious consequences if the violations continue."'

The Government is "Not the reading the writing on the wall. People don't accept these policies and the Left is only articulating those views," he said.



Basu hinted that UPA would meet the same fate as NDA if it stick to these policies. Speaking in the same vein, Raja said that UPA should realize that it runs a minority Govt with Left support which is based on CMP.

The CPI(M) leader asked the UPA partners to assess to what extent the government was abiding by the CMP and He said it was for the Government to see to it that its stability was ensured.

"We have decided that we are not going to remain weighed down by the UPA-Left Coordination alone. Whenever the Government goes unilaterally, we will raise the issue inside and outside Parliament", Basu said.

"People feel that the Left has valid objections but the government is doing what it wants. This is disturbing us," he said.

Asked when will the Left parties review support, Basu said, "I cannot guarantee the tenure of the govt. It is beyond my calculation.