The Hindu : National : “Prioritise issues which affect common man”

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Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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“Prioritise issues which affect common man”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s remarks on the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal at the HT Leadership Summit here.

“It is a good thing that the government sees our point on the nuclear deal. It is very positive on their side to have given due consideration to the objections raised by us,” D. Raja, MP and national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) told The Hindu.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s remark that his was not a “one issue” government, Mr. Raja said the Congress should not hammer away at a single point agenda: the nuclear deal. “It should prioritise issues which affect common people and require immediate and urgent attention such as agrarian crisis, onion prices, collapse of public distribution system, condition of Dalits, Muslims and the weaker sections,” he added.

Asked to comment on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s assertion that it would renegotiate the nuclear agreement with the U.S. if it came to power, Mr. Raja said that it was during the NDA regime that India signed the Next Step for Strategic Partner (NSSP) with the U.S. “If the BJP were to negotiate the deal, it will be far worse thing,” he added.

The All-India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas was guarded in his reaction to the statements made by the Prime Minister and Ms. Gandhi. He said if it was the “official position” then it would mean that the government had politically decided not to go ahead with the deal.

Welcoming the statements of the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Forward Bloc secretary G. Devarajan said it was “symptom of a responsive government.”

The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Abani Roy wanted that the government should give the remarks of the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi made at the HT Leadership Summit in writing to the Left parties.

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