If one were to listen to any of the election speeches by Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, they would sense an imminent fall of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Complete Coverage: Assembly Elections 2006
Addressing party supporters in Kollam district of Kerala, he says, "The UPA government is anti-people."
The central government is not following the common minimum programme, he charges, adding, that it does not care for any programmes that will benefit the people."
Karat than goes on to list the ills that he insists has afflicted the UPA regime.
They include:
- The foreign policy adopted and followed by the Manmohan Singh government is similar to the one that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government pursued.
- The government does not care for farmers across the country.
- Its economic policies are anti-people. The Left would strongly oppose the move to privitise public sector banks in the country.
- The government is opening India's retail sector to Western multi-nationals.
As Karat speaks, CPI-M supporters shout back: "Down Manmohan government. Down Congress government."
Karat then thunders: "The youth in the country are not getting any new jobs. I want to know from Sonia Gandhi why the government is reducing job opportunities for the youth."
This time his supporters shout: "Down Sonia Gandhi."
After the central government, it is the turn of Congress-led United Democratic Front government in Kerala to face the music. "The UDF government in Kerala is a sinking ship. It has been sinking in the last five years. The government has been a failure in all sectors in Kerala," he says.
"In fact, the Oommen Chandy government is a replica of the Manmohan government at the Centre."
As Karat gets down from the podium, reporters catch hold of him and ask: "If you are so dead against the Manmohan Singh government, why is the CPI-M continuing to support the UPA regime?"
"We decided to support the UPA government in 2004 because we never wanted the Bharatiya Janata Party to come to power. But now we find that many of the policies followed by the Congress regime are similar to those of the BJP government," comes the reply.
So how long will Karat and his party support Dr Singh?
"We are waiting for the assembly elections. We are definitely going to review our support to the UPA government after that," he asserts.
Will CPI-M pull the rug from Manmohan's feet?
"Just wait and see," pat comes Karat's reply.
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