New Delhi: CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat has made it clear that the Left is ready for the challenge of taking on the Congress in West Bengal and Kerala elections even if Congress allies with the non-Left parties in the two states.
"We know of the challenges coming from BJP-Trinamul Congress combine in West Bengal and from the Congress in Kerala. But we are ready to face the challenge," Karat said at the end of the Polit Bureau meeting in Kolkata.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau also decided that the party would put the UPA government in the dock in Parliament if it insisted on voting in favour of referring Iran's nuclear activities to the UN Security Council.
"We shall put the Government in the dock if it votes against Iran. We will demand the Government to make its stand clear on the issue in Parliament prior to the IAEA Board meeting," Karat said.
The Polit Bureau observed that it was in India's national interest to maintain friendly ties with Iran as it had vital stake in the Middle East.
"The Polit Bureau noted that the UPA government has been pursuing a line of aligning with the US and the EU, who are bent upon targetting Iran," he added.
While the next meeting of the IAEA would be taking up the issue on March 6, Karat said the CPI(M) would have floor coordination with other non-BJP parties in both Houses of Parliament to force the Government for a discussion and explain its position.
"It is a question of the country's independent foreign policy and the Government is kowtowing to the US pressure. Since the Manmohan Singh Government has refused to heed to public opinion, the discussion is required to make clear what is the people's opinion and what is the Government's stand," he said.
Taking serious exception to US Ambassador David Mulford writing directly to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee for his remarks against the American President, the CPI-M said the party expected a response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
"The US Ambassador does not seem to understand how to behave as an ambassador in this country. An ambassador has to behave according to certain norms," Karat said at the end of the two-day Politburo meeting of the party here.
In a letter Mulford had objected to the Chief Minister's description of US President George Bush as a leader of the 'most organised pack of killers' at an election rally on January 8.
Mulford had also said such remarks would be detrimental, especially in inviting US investors to West Bengal.
Karat said the CPI-M had earlier demanded Mulford's recall following his comment on the Left parties' stand on FDI in retail trade. He said the ambassador had no business to write to the chief minister directly.
Bhattacharjee, he said, had written a strong letter of protest to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh objecting to Mulford's behaviour. "The Prime Minister has got the chief minister's letter by now. We expect a response from him," Karat said.
(With PTI inputs)
Comments
0 comment