CPI wants ouster of tainted BJP ministers

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 1

The Communist Party of India has demanded the resignation of all tainted BJP ministers at the Centre and in various states, including Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani; Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje; and Maharashtra ministers Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawde.

The party’s national council meeting here gave a call to end corruption under the BJP rule and decided to take on the “corrupt BJP ministers and expose their claims of a corruption-free government in the first year of Modi rule” both outside and inside Parliament.

The party also demanded the setting up of an Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the supervision of Supreme Court, to investigate the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh.

On the second day of the National Executive Committee meeting of the party, the top leadership of the party decided to discuss the strategy to corner the BJP government over corruption with the help of other Left parties.

“The joint coordination committee meeting of six Left parties — CPI, CPM, CPI-ML, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc — is scheduled for July 5. Besides planning an Anti Corruption Day to coincide with the Quit India Movement anniversary in August, the Left parties may discuss the strategy for the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament,” said CPI national secretary D Raja. He said the focus would be on Left’s strategy to corner the BJP over “misgovernance”.

While the party will protest outside Parliament, the strategy inside will be different, he added.

The joint electoral line of the Left for the 24 seats of the Bihar Legislative Council elections, which the CPI, CPM and the CPI-ML will contest jointly, will also be taken up in the joint coordination committee meeting.

CPI national executive member Shamim Faizi said party general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy had presented a report on the political and economic developments in the country over the past year; haste in implementing neoliberal policies; and the BJP government continuing to represent the interests of right-wing capitalists and communal forces.

“We have adopted resolutions seeking resignation of all BJP ministers at the Centre and in states. Two other resolutions — one on seeking an SIT probe into Vyapam scam in MP, where politicians, judges administrative heads are involved; and other seeking arrest of culprits in the murder of our leader Govind Pansare, who was shot in Kolhapur, have also been passed in the national council meeting today,” he said.