Date:17/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/17/stories/2008051757200400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

‘Left should keep away from meet on N-deal’

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) would urge the Left parties to keep away from the UPA-Left Coordination Committee on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, said AIFB national general secretary Debabratha Biswas and national secretary G. Devarajan here on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, they said the party would raise the demand at the next meeting of Left parties to be held on May 23. Though the meeting is scheduled to take up a number of issues, including inflation, the Forward Bloc will raise this demand at the meeting. The coordination committee has so far met 17 times but not evolved any concrete decision. Such meetings have become a futile exercise and the party would urge the Left parties to keep away from the Coordination Committee meeting on May 28. “Since there is no change in our stated positions, there is no meaning in attending the meetings again. The only option for the government is to back out of the deal,” they said.

The stance of the Left parties has prevented the government from signing the deal in haste. Mr. Biswas and Mr. Devarajan said the deal was against the sovereignty of the nation and it would make India a junior partner of the U.S. The neo-imperialist forces were trying to hold the nation to ransom. The government should not go ahead with the deal, they said.

While the UPA government has chosen to ignore the suggestions given by the Left parties to check inflation, it has failed to arrest the spiralling prices of essential commodities. The party will take the initiative in organising a mass movement against the government’s failure to check inflation. The Netaji Desa Raksha Yatra organised by the State unit of the party covering all 14 districts from May 1 to May 15, has received a positive response. The national campaign of the party will conclude at Jharkhand on March 19 .

National chairman Kaippuzha Velappan Nair, State general secretary V.Ram Mohan, and AIYL State president Thankachan Verghese were also present.