Gurudas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India on Sunday demanded the removal of Labour Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao charging that he has "no time" for issues concerning the Ministry.

"The Labour Minister has not called meetings of the Consultative Committees and goes about seeking Telangana. He has no time for labour issues and the Ministry is non-functional. We have drawn the attention of Prime Minister but he has done nothing. We want a new labour Minister who would work genuinely,'' CPI Parliamentary party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said at a press conference here.

Raising the issues the party would take up during the monsoon session starting on Monday, Mr. Dasgupta appealed to the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain from disrupting proceedings of Parliament and allow it the function as a forum of debate.

"The country is facing a serious situation. If not critical it is extremely complicated," he said, adding that Parliament has to discuss issues like failure of economic policies, a "weak-kneed" foreign policy, internal security situation, agrarian crisis and labour-related issues.

"We opposed politicisation of terrorist crimes, as also all attempts to derive narrow political advantage making use of sectarian slogans from whatever quarters it may be," the party said.

The Home Ministry cannot absolve itself of the responsibility on the Mumbai serial blasts, the party said, adding that during discussion it would focus on the failure of the intelligence agencies and demand a probe. The party, he said, was also concerned over the leakage of a sensitive note prepared by the National Security Adviser.

Chhattisgarh situation

Mr. Dasgupta said the party was also concerned over the "civil war-like situation" in Chhattisgarh. He said the Government was arming one section of tribal people to take on another section of tribal people.

The CPI, he said, would oppose any move to amend the Right to Information Act, the Pension Regulatory Fund Bill and Banking reform Bill in the current form. The party also demanded that the Tribal Rights Bill be passed in the current session and the Government move to introduce the Women's Reservation Bill.

The party said there was a "Right turn" in the country's foreign policy and demanded that the Government assure its (the CPI's) apprehensions would be corrected. It also accused the Government of having failed to condemn Israeli aggression of Lebanon and demanded that the country must stand by the victims of Israeli terrorism.

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