Surjeet: In battle mode

New Delhi, July 21: CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has blasted the United Progressive Alliance government for sneaking in policies that he claims have not been sanctioned by the common minimum programme.

The lead article in the latest issue of People’s Democracy, the CPM mouthpiece, says the Centre’s “retrograde policies can only benefit the BJP”.

Surjeet begins the article by saying: “The recent controversy regarding FDI in insurance, telecommunication and other sectors has brought the nation to a critical pass.”

Finance minister P. Chidambaram, as far as Surjeet and his comrades are concerned, is reneging on the common programme. “The Left will see to it that these FDI proposals are rolled back,” Surjeet says.

This is the first time that the CPM leader has spoken out on the controversy since the spat over raising the ceiling on foreign investment in insurance (from 26 to 49 per cent), telecom (49 to 74 per cent) and civil aviation (40 to 49 per cent) escalated.

Till now, his juniors were leading the attack. Recently, politburo member Sitaram Yechury had told the BBC that the Left, as the UPA government’s watchdog, could “bark” as well as “bite”.

Surjeet, along with CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, had been hoping for some conciliatory gesture from the government so that the charge-brigade in the Left could retreat. But the government has not given out any such signal.

CPM and CPI leaders have met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sought greater co-ordination between the UPA and the Left to clear the air of suspicion. Sonia has not given any assurance on rolling back either the FDI proposals or the proposal to privatise airports and slash provident fund interest rates.