Manmohan led an unclean Government : Prakash Karat

Coimbatore:
The General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Prakash Karat, on Wednesday accused the Union Ministers from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of corruption and added that Dr. Manmohan Singh, said to be a "clean Prime Minister," was heading an "unclean Government."
He addressed public meetings at Udumalpet organised by the CPI (M) in support of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate from Pollachi Lok Sabha constituency K. Sugumar and in Coimbatore South to campaign for CPI(M) candidate from Coimbatore constituency PR.Natarajan.
He said that the Congress-led Government had been facilitating the transfer of resources to the rich and cited that India had four of the world’s ten richest people.
The Left parties chose to support the UPA to stop the "communal BJP" from coming to power. But from day one, the CPI (M) had to fight against the "anti-people and pro-capitalist" policies of the Congress. The Government failed to even fulfil the promises made in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP), he added.
The only good measure initiated by the Congress led Government was the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), he said and attributed this to the pressure from the Left parties which he claimed were responsible for ensuring one-third of works for women and minimum wages.
He added that if the third front came to power, NREGS would be extended to urban areas, which the Government failed to do resulting in unemployment in urban areas as well.
Karat was confident of secular parties currently with the Congress and the BJP joining hands with the Left to form an alternative "pro-people" government. Even before the polls, the third front was comfortable with a five-party alliance in Tamil Nadu, four-party alliance in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and a three-party alliance in Karnataka, besides alliances led by the Left in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal .

Nuclear deal

Prakash Karat accused the Congress-led Government of mortgaging the interests of the country and its people and acting under the pressure from Washington. He said that the Indo-US nuclear deal would cost the country Rs. 2,80,000 crore for installing nuclear reactors, taking the cost per unit of electricity to Rs. 12 to Rs. 15. If the Left-led front came to power it would not allow this to happen, he added.