Kerala - Kozhikode   

Raja denies Sonia’s charges

CPI leader D. Raja

Kozhikode: CPI leader D. Raja has dismissed Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s objections to the Left parties criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying such criticisms are political and not personal. “In a democracy, it is quite natural for a Prime Minister to be always subjected to public scrutiny and be criticised,” Mr. Raja said on Thursday.

He was responding to the charges against the Left parties raised by Ms. Gandhi at her election speeches in Kerala on Wednesday. Mr. Raja said, “Dr. Manmohan Singh is not a dictator (to be above criticism)… Sonia Gandhi seems to think the criticism against Dr. Singh is at a personal level. It is not so… The Left is criticising him for political reasons … and such criticism is allowed in a democracy.”

He refuted Ms. Gandhi’s charge that the Left had an outdated mindset and alleged it was the Congress which had a mindset that it had sold to the U.S. and Israel.

“The Congress is responsible for India striking strategic partnership with these countries on defence and similar issues in spite of what Israel is doing in West Asia. India even has defence deals with that country. It is such programmes of the UPA that the Left has opposed. It cannot be called anti-development for taking such positions.”

He wondered how Ms. Gandhi could claim as she had done in her election speeches that the UPA government had been generous in granting financial support to Kerala. “What Kerala had received from the Centre is its legitimate share … ” he said.

Mr. Raja disagreed with Ms. Gandhi’s allegation that the Left had helped the BJP to form a government in the past, saying it was the Congress which had joined hands with the BJP to topple the V.P. Singh government.

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Raja denies Sonia’s charges

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