Mumbai, May 29: Extending its support to the nation-wide bandh call given by the NDA on May 31 over the petrol price hike issue, the CPI today said it would appeal to the Centre to withdraw the recent increase.
“We would appeal to the Union government to roll back the petrol price hike by holding demonstrations at different places. We will ask the government to withdraw the recent Rs 7.50 petrol price hike,” CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy said this while addressing a press conference here.
“It is not about supporting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), but about fighting against the policies of the government,” he added.
While taking a dig at the Centre over its white-paper on black money, Reddy said the government should come out with the names of people, who had stashed away black money in the Swiss banks and in other countries.
“When the USA can come out with the names of the people, who had stashed away black money, why can't the Indian government do the same? White paper should include the names of such people,” he said.
Urging the CBI to operate in an “impartial manner”, Reddy said the agency should not let itself become a “weapon of the government” against the opposition. “CBI should step up its activity in Maharashtra. We welcome the arrest of YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy, but at the same time it should call the former chief ministers of Maharashtra for inquiry in Adarsh scam,” he said.
The CPI has also said that it was opposed to the proposed Food Security Bill and would create awareness on it through a month-long awareness campaign from July 1. “Between July 29 and August 3, we would stage a massive dharna (sit-in) near Parliament,” Reddy added.
Holding the UPA and the NDA responsible for the
“economic crisis in the country”, CPI leader Bhalchandra Kango alleged that due to the export-oriented policies adopted by the both of them, the current scenario has arisen. “The main culprits of the crisis are the export-oriented and foreign-oriented policies of the UPA and the NDA governments,” Reddy said alleging that 50 per cent exports of the country have collapsed.
