Date:30/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/30/stories/2007043015231400.htm

National

UPA should give up some policies: CPI

Special Correspondent

BJP is cashing in on Government's failures: Raja

Says Government is painting a rosy picture of the economy

`Prices of essential goods have gone up; agriculture neglected'

HYDERABAD: CPI national secretary D. Raja has asked the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to amend its policies to suit public interest or face "serious political consequences."

"The time has come for the UPA Government to go for a mid-course correction of its policies and give up some policies that are not in the interests of the country," he said here on Sunday.

He was addressing the party's Hyderabad City Council meeting.

He said while the Government was painting a rosy picture of the economy, citing the 9.2 per cent GDP growth, the "trickle down effect" in which the Congress believed did not take place.

Agriculture was neglected and the gulf between the rich and the poor was widening alarmingly. Price rise was the main issue in the Punjab and Uttarakhand elections, where the BJP made some gains. It continued to be an issue in the Uttar Pradesh polls, Mr. Raja said.