Common Minimum Programme dumped for one-point agenda: Left

Linking the Government’s performance to a dope-enhanced athlete, CPI(M) leader Mohmadd Salim said that the UPA’s pace was becoming faster as it came closer to the nuclear deal.

“The Common Minimum Programme was not signed with Bush, the agreement when it came to power was with the Left,” the leader said. “We need leaders to lead and not to make deals.”

Salim also accused the Government of going slow on issues like inflation, price rise and implementation of the Sachar commission report.

Accusing the UPA of horse trading, he took pot shots at the Samajwadi Party’s support to the Government, saying some “retail deals” were taking place besides a “wholesome deal”.

CPI veteran Gurudas Dasgupta said there was a “breach” by the Government that led to the end of their relationship. The end was triggered by their aggressive political unilateralism, he said, the last straw being the way the nuclear deal was bulldozed through.

The CPI also questioned the stand of “imported inflation”. The Government, he said, did not take their views on progressive taxation and pampered corporates. “The PM has to pay a price for his failure. The Government’s commitment was to someone else and not to the people of India,” Dasgupta said, adding pointed references to corporates buying private aircrafts for their relatives.