January 5, 2009

CPI(M) should take initiative to consolidate Left unity: AIFB

Thiruvananthapuram, 5th January, 2009 : The CPI(M) should take initiative to consolidate Left unity in India to build a 'people's alternative' to the Congress and BJP at the national level, AIFB secretary and West Bengal agriculture minister Naren Dey said here on Monday.

This was necessary to keep both parties away from power since both parties were two sides of the same coin as far as economic policies and the 'subservient' attitude towards US imperialism was concerned, Dey told reporters.

He said the AIFB, part of the Left group in West Bengal and Tripura, wanted to be part of the ruling LDF combine in Kerala and said it was strange that the party has so far not been included in the front, despite working with them. "AIFB works with Left parties in Kerala, but it is strange that the party is not part of LDF", he said.

The party has approached both CPI(M) and CPI with the request and the former had informed its leaders that they would try to include AIFB in the front, Dey said. On Centre-State relations, Dey said schemes and assistance from the union government to a state was not a privilege in a federal system, but a constitutional right of the state.

Considering the political background of the state while allotting the Union sponsored schemes would only hamper the true spirit of the federal system, he said. "The UPA government should stop its step-motherly attitude towards Kerala and West Bengal", Dey added. Dey said he had invited Kerala agriculture minister Mullakara Ratnakaran to West Bengal for a discussion on issues connected with agriculture next month.

No comments: