New Delhi: The Congress, already on the backfoot after the debacle in the Bihar Assembly polls, has come in for some sharp crticism from its key ally at the Centre.
Communist Party of India (CPI) has criticised the 'behaviour' of some Congress ministers and warned the party that it should "tread carefully" as the Government cannot function without the support of the Left.
"Some Congress ministers forget that they are in a coalition, they forget they have only 145 seats, they behave as if they are in a majority," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said addressing a rally of its trade union wing AITUC in New Delhi.
He told Congress that it should tread carefully as it does not have the majority to run the government. "Samajhke chalo, sambhalke chalo, you have only 145 and you don't have a majority," he added.
Bardhan asserted that the government's "stability" depended on the support of Left parties, but said it was not its style to threaten the Government every other day about withdrawing support.
"We are realists and we do not want to impose anything, but one thing you must not forget is that you are there because of our support," he said.
Training his guns against the economic and foreign policies of the Centre, he said that the Congress-led government was following the footsteps of its predecessor BJP by succumbing to the American pressure.
"We also support friendship with America, but we should not become their slave," he said and criticised India's vote at the IAEA on the Iranian nuclear issue claiming it was done under American pressure.
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Bardhan said that his party was not against foreign investment, but warned the government that it should not stifle profit-making public sectors and open up 'sensitive' areas to multinational companies in view of national interest.
"Don't destroy existing Public Sector Units which has triggered economic development in the country. If you want to bring in foreign investment, do it but it should not be at the cost of our navaratna PSUs," he said.
He opposed foreign investment in insurance, banking, finance and retail sectors, terming them as life-lines of Indian economy and said, "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram must understand that we are not supporting them for implementing such policies."
He also opposed the proposed Pensions Bill and the hire and fire policy pursued by private companies.
Earlier, addressing the rally which kickstarted the 38th annual session of AITUC, its General Secretary Gurudas Das Gupta gave a call for workers to unite and 'struggle' against the 'anti-people' policies of the government.
He called for unity among all trade unions irrespective of their party affiliations for what he called a struggle against "exploitation of workers" by the government which promotes investment.
Gupta asked the government to impose more tax on rich industrialists and business tycoons and utilise the money for development purposes.
"Our alternative plan for the next budget is clear - tax the rich for resource mobilisation," he said.
Referring to the just-concluded Bihar Assembly elections, he added that the people are impatient and the government must address their grievances.
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