Karat welcomes unity bid of erstwhile Janata Parivar

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today welcomed the ongoing efforts of unity among the constituents of erstwhile Janata Parivar to take on a resurgent BJP saying the Left parties will coordinate with them in Parliament.

"We welcome the ongoing bid by the erstwhile constituents of Janata Parivar to come together....it will definitely strengthen the opposition unity against the ruling NDA government at the Centre," Karat told reporters here.

However, the CPI(M) and other Left parties will look forward to more clarity on policies and programmes of the Janata Parivar members before taking a call on backing them, he said.

To begin with, the CPI(M) will coordinate with the constituents of erstwhile Janata Parivar in Parliament during the winter session beginning later this month, Karat said.

The CPI(M) General Secretary also hit out at the Narendra Modi government for pursuing 'anti-poor' and 'anti-people' policies saying that the NDA government was bent on undermining the universal character of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MNREGA) by slashing funds to the states under this central flagship scheme aimed at generating employment in the rural areas.

The funds to state under MNREGA has been slashed by nearly 50 per cent by the NDA government which has decided to slash labour component of the scheme that will adversely affect employment generation for rural families, Karat said, adding Tripua, being ruled out the CPI(M)-led Left Front, has been the worst affected with 47 per cent reduction in allocation of funds under this head.

Tripura has been the best performing state in implementation of MNREGA by generating 88 man days' employment for rural families as against the national average at 45 man days, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also set out on agenda to reform labour laws in the country which will lead to retrenchment of labourers in all type of industrial activities in the country, Karat said.