BANGALORE: Alleging a sell out of corporate India by the UPA-II government, S Sudhakar Reddy, deputy general secretary, CPI National Council, said, “They have given Rs 18 lakh crore to corporate in the last 3 years.” He added that conservative estimates to feed the entire India put the figure at Rs 2 lakh crore.
“When it comes to feeding the poor population or when the Supreme Court asked them to distribute the rotting food grains for free of cost, they refused citing executive privilege, this is a shameless move,” he said.
Addressing the 21st CPI State Council Meeting here on Thursday, he lashed out at the Opposition for keeping silent on critical issues like the Lokpal Bill and issues like low spending on national schemes like MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). “Only Rs 34,000 Crore has been spent out of a total of `1 lakh crore till last month,” he said.
Lashing out at the UPA government for not releasing names of Swiss Bank Account holders with black money, Reddy stated that none of the BJP members supported him when he raised the issue in Parliament. “Pawan Bansal, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, considered the question as a joke and promised to look into it. He is yet to respond,” said the CPI leader adding that the reason the UPA did not want to release the list was because its party members figured prominently in it.
Commenting on the Anna Hazare movement and corruption, he stated that the movement fizzled out because the team was not flexible and did not align with any political party. He also criticized the BJP in UP for welcoming BSP minister Babu Singh Kushawaha who was thrown out of BSP.
“BJP is shameless. They are yet to cancel party membership of former Karnataka C M BS Yeddyurappa, just asking him to step down from the CM’s post does not constitute an anti-corruption stand,” he said.