Karnataka   

Price rise: CPI (M) stages protest

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

IN PEOPLE’S INTEREST: Members of the CPI (M) staging a dharna in Mysore on Tuesday.

MYSORE: Several activists of the Left parties staged a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mysore on Tuesday in protest against the spiralling prices of essential commodities in the country ever since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government came to power at the Centre.

The activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) urged the UPA Government to take steps to bring down the prices of onion, foodgrains, edible oil, vegetables and other essential items, including medicine, particularly life-saving drugs.

The activists held aloft banners and shouted slogans against the Congress-led Union Government.

The demonstration was part of the nation-wide agitation launched by the CPI (M) against the UPA Government.

Though the Left parties extend outside support to the Congress-led UPA Government, K. Venkataramaiah of the Mysore District Committee of the CPI (M) said that the CPI (M) extended support to the Congress-led Government only when it promised to implement the common minimum programme (CMP). Unfortunately, the UPA Government has not lived up to its promise on the CMP, he said.

On account of the UPA Government’s failure, the prices of essential commodities, especially foodgrains, have risen.

Though the Union Government keeps claiming that the wholesale price index had come down, the decline has not made any impact on the consumer price index.

The CPI (M) attributed the price rise to the failure of the agricultural sector to make progress, the failure of the Government to stock foodgrains, permission for advance trading on foodgrains, importing wheat by paying a high price besides the neglect of the public distribution system by the Government.

The CPI (M) felt the lives of the common people would become even more miserable if the Government goes ahead with the proposed increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.

Any increase in the prices of petrol and diesel will have a cascading effect on the prices of all essential commodities.

Mr. Venkataramaiah said the Government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail trade and joint ventures would make it difficult for petty traders to eke out a living.

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