Govt.’s move to allow more FDI in agri sector will hurt farmer’s interests: Karat
April 1st, 2011 - 8:20 pm ICT by ANI
Thrissur, Apr 1 (ANI): Campaigning ahead of April 13 Kerala assembly polls, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the Union Government’s move to allow more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the agriculture sector will hurt farmers interests.
Kicking off his party’s election campaign at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur, Karat criticised the UPA government policies that contributed to rise in prices of essential commodities.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi and CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan are participating in a series of meetings in Kochi this evening.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to take part in the election campaign meetings at Haripad, Thrissur and Kozhikode on April 6, while Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, will address public meetings at Kollam and Kottayam on April 9.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari will be participate in the election campaign meeting on April 10 at Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Palakkad.
Despite independents and other state level parties trying their luck, the main tussle is among ruling CPIM led Left Democratic Front (LDF), Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
High profile contestants including Chief Minister and CPM veteran V S Acuthanandan, seeking mandate from the Left bastion Malampuzha in Palakkad district for the third time.
Besides Achuthanandan, his fourteen cabinet colleagues are back in the fray, eight from CPM, two from CPI, one each from RSP, Congress-S, Janata Dal-S and Kerala Congress (Thomas).
In LDF, lead partner CPI-M is contesting 93 seats, CPI (27), JD-S (5), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (4 each), Kerala Congress, Indian National League (INL) (three each) and Congress-S (1).
The party-wise break up of seats being contested by UDF is Congress (82), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) (24), Kerala Congress (M (15), Socialist Janata Democratic (SJD) (6), Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) (4), KC-J, CMP (3 each), KC-B (2) and RSP-B (1).
The polling for 140 assembly constituencies in Kerala will be held on April 13. (ANI)
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Tags: assembly polls, bardhan, bharatiya janata party, cabinet colleagues, campaign meetings, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, cpim, democratic front, dr manmohan singh, kunnamkulam, malampuzha, manmohan singh, muslim league, nationalist congress party, palakkad, prakash karat, revolutionary socialist party, sonia gandhi, vayalar ravi