IndiaPost.com - Left parties accuse govt of "outsourcing" foreign policy to US

NEW DELHI: In a scathing attack on the UPA government, the Left accused it of "outsourcing" foreign policy to the United States and bluntly told the Congress that its coalition has lost trustworthiness due to "its deals".

Participating in the discussion on the confidence motion in Lok Sabha, CPI(M) leader Mohd Salim said that the Left had not supported the Government to go ahead with the nuclear deal, the IAEA safeguards agreement and strategic alliance with the US.

Attacking the Congress for faulting the Left for withdrawing support to the government, he said the question is not only of trust, "but the trustworthiness of the government."

"The performance of the Government becomes fast when it comes to the nuclear deal," CPI(M) leader Mohd Salim said likening it to taking of dope by cricketers for enhancing their performance. He also accused the ruling alliance of indulging in horse trading as also had a dig at the Samajwadi Party for supporting the UPA.

"Along with a wholesale deal, some retail deals are also taking place," Salim said. Criticizing the opponents of the nuclear deal, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav said while Leader of Opposition L K Advani was "in a hurry" to become the next Prime Minister, the Left had also joined hands with him. In a sarcastic tone, he said "but now there are two claimants to the PM's post.

One Advani and the other who they (the Left) proposed," apparently referring to UP Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati. On a lighter note, he said Advani was "Lal" (red), referring to the BJP leader's name, and he had joined hands with the "Reds" (the Left) to oppose the government.

The SP member criticized the Left parties for withdrawing their support saying "you cannot absolve yourself of the responsibility of running the government for the past four years." He said the trends suggested that about 60 per cent of the sitting MPs do not get re-elected and so it was in their interest to abstain and not vote against the motion.

Defending the nuclear deal, Devendra Prasad Yadav of RJD said the BJP and its leader Advani were in a state of a "shock" with emergence of Mayawati as a national leader. He wondered how the Left and the BJP were coming together when they never see eye-to-eye. When Railway Minister Laloo Prasad intervened, he was interrupted by the BJP members leading to further commotion.

An agitated Prasad said, he was ready for "Mahabharata". He said as a minister he has a right to intervene and would not be cowed down by BJP members. Intervening during the discussion, DMK leader and senior minister T R Baalu lashed out at those who spoke against the nuclear deal and said parties voting against the government were anti-poor.

"If they (opposition) vote against us, it means they are against the poorest of the poor in the country," he said. To drive home his point that the UPA government stood for 'aam admi', he said despite steep rise in global crude oil prices, the poor has been spared from its burden as the price of kerosene has not been touched.

Interestingly, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was present in the Speaker's Gallery when Geete spoke about the power situation in the state and said there was laodshedding for 14 hours a day and soon it could be 16 hours.

Flaying the Left parties, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said the Government did not need any "certificate or sermon" from anybody as it knows what was good for the country.

Taking a dig at the BJP, he said though the NDA and the Left had "joined hands" to topple the Government, the saffron party should remember that "Left's Prime Ministerial candidate is not L K Advani but Mayawati". Gurudas Das Gupta (CPI) accused Congress of "breaching the trust" by following unilaterism.

"We want a government of consensus and not a government of unilateralism." The UPA government did not fulfill people's expectations and the Congress ignored Left's suggestions particularly on issues like price rise, he said. The Left, the member said, did not subscribe to the theory of "imported inflation" and it was excessive taxation that had played havoc.

Without naming Reliance Industries or its chairman Mukesh Ambani, Gupta said one industrial house making a gift of Rs 240 crore aircraft to the wife of its managing director was a "vulgar display of wealth". The nuclear deal, he said, would push India into 600 years of imperial rule.

The deal per se was not anti-Muslim or anti-Hindu but was anti-India, he said. Praful Patel (NCP) emphasized that the nuclear deal would reduce India's dependence on coal in future. Attacking the Left parties, the Civil Aviation Minister said they had been party to all decisions of the government in the past four years.

Patel said the Prime Minister had tried to explain the deal's benefits in a transparent manner. There was a brief uproar in the House when Prabhunath Singh (JD-U) made some remarks relating to the Prime Minister. "All government offices have pictures of the President and the Prime Minister, but this is not the case with this government," he said.

The Treasury Benches objected to this arguing the comments were unparliamentary and aimed at ridiculing the party.