The Hindu : National : Left plans to focus on working of Home Ministry

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Tuesday, Oct 12, 2004

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National

Left plans to focus on working of Home Ministry

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT.11. The Left parties today decided to focus attention on the happenings in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir and plan to raise these subjects at the Coordination Committee meeting with the United Progressive Alliance tomorrow.

Concerned over the sudden spurt in violence in the northeast, especially the continuing impasse in Manipur, the Left parties want to know the approach of the Manmohan Singh Government vis-à-vis the region.

Besides, they would take up the progress of the dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme, according to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member, Prakash Karat.

The CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, said the situation in the northeast was volatile with ``so many bomb blasts and terrorist attacks... we would like to know what the Government thinks in this regard.''

The Left parties have clearly decided to bring the work of the Home Ministry under review and find out from the Government its position on these issues. The Revolutionary Socialist Party central committee member, Abani Roy, said the focus was necessary since terrorist groups in the northeast had claimed to be behind the recent bomb attacks.

At tomorrow's meeting, the Left parties would also ascertain the priorities of the Government in the implementation of the CMP, especially with regard to the proposed Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the food-for-work programme. It is understood that they would rather awaitthe promised reply of the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, to the notes sent by them on the raising of foreign direct investment caps in crucial sectors such as telecom and insurance. Today's meeting was attended by Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Mr. Karat and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Mr. Bardhan and D. Raja (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (All India Forward Bloc) and Mr. Roy.

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