MUTHUVARA (THRISSUR) : Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said here on Sunday that Communists were against development and were unable to `evolve progressive policies in consonance with the changes across the world." Mr Deshmukh was addressing an election meeting of V. Balaram of the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) (DIC-K) who is the nominee of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kunnamkulam Assembly seat, at Muthuvara, near Thrissur.

He said the States as well as the country as a whole would be able to attract investments and pursue the path of development only if they adopted `progressive policies'.

"But the Communists are against such policies and that is why they are frequently attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre," he said.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister pointed out that the UPA Government was also implementing programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme along with the policies to attract investments. Maharashtra had implemented employment guarantee scheme even prior to that, Mr Deshmukh said. He urged the Left to conduct a serious introspection to find out why it was not able to grow in States other than Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.

He appealed to the voters of Kerala to vote for a Government that would be able to seize the opportunities thrown up by the changed global scenario.

The former Chief Minister of Kerala A K Antony, who also spoke on the occasion, said the Marxists were resisting change in Kerala, as they felt that they would be able to grow here only if the State remained poor and under developed.

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