‘Cong, BJP two sides of same coin’

Agartala: Tripura chief minister and CPM politburo member Manik Sarkar has called for a united protest against the Centre’s decision to stop fresh appointments in the public sector.
Addressing a party rally at Dharmanagar in North Tripura on Wednesday, Sarkar said Congress and BJP are two sides of the same coin. Both the parties have always tried to work in the interests of rich people.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitely, in a recent letter, has asked state governments to stop all appointments till October 31, 2015. However, he did not spell out anything about the Centre’s future plans in this regard and how government offices would function without adequate staff, Sarkar alleged.
He said two years ago,the UPA government had also imposed a ban on new jobs and now, BJP is continuing with the policy without any valid reason. “We have neither adopted the new pension policy of the Centre nor accepted the ban on employment in Tripura and more than 15,000 jobs have been given by the Left Front government in the last three years,” Sarkar claimed.
However, he added that the UPA government did not curtail the allocation of funds to the states and his government could continue with its development policies and create jobs for youths.
“The Narendra Modi government has made drastic curbs in allocation and release of funds to the state. And, they are now saying no jobs in the public sector. How does a government in an isolated state like Tripura function?” Sarkar wondered.
Funds worth over Rs 4,000 crore sanctioned under various Central schemes for Tripura have not been released even at the end of the financial year, he said. In fact, the state government has already spent money from its own resources on several Centre-funded projects and is now facing serious financial problems without having received the central funds, he added. “Security of food for all and assurance of 100-days work under MGNREGA have been promised to the poor by the Parliament, but now the Modi government is denying these rights to the people,” he said. On the contrary, it is selling out profitable nationalized sectors to private parties, allowing private investment in banks, insurance, natural resource management and even in the defence sector.
“The most dangerous trend of the new government is its neglect of the agriculture sector under the influence of a few corporate houses. To liberalize budget deficit, we have been demanding direct taxes based on economic status, but it is being discouraged and the government is announcing tax holiday for the richer sections in society,” Sarkar added.