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Saturday, Sep 23, 2006
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Centre's economic policies identical to NDA's: Dasgupta

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD : Gurudas Dasgupta, CPI leader in the Lok Sabha, on Friday warned of a "much bigger confrontation" with the Union Government if it failed to listen to the Left parties.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Dasgupta said there was no indication of the drastic changes in economic policies as suggested by the Left. This was despite these parties sparing no effort to persuade the Government from raising these issues in Parliament and meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Not enough is being done to change the economic policies. They are almost identical to those pursued by the BJP-led NDA Government. We have no option now but to take to the streets and find other ways of persuasion," he said.

Mr. Dasgupta is here as part of his tour of various States to mobilise support for the "March to Parliament" programme on November 23 and the all-India general strike on December 14, called by the unions against the economic policies of the Government.

He said there was impatience among people as they wanted not only a change of party and leaders but also policies. There was no guarantee that people would get two square meals a day and a house to live in. It was this impatience that pushed people to naxalism and other extremist activities.

He said after Dr. Singh visited Vidarbha and announced a package for the farmers, 251 of them committed suicide. In the package, only interest was waived and not the principal amount. Farmers required inputs, water, marketing and remunerative prices for produce and not just crop loans. "It is [a] matter of shame that the Prime Minister could not stop these suicides. [The] Andhra Pradesh Government too could not do it. So is Uttar Pradesh."

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