RJD to hold `maha dharna' against NDA Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, today announced that the party would hold a ``maha dharna'' against the Vajpayee Government here on August 21, and extended an invitation to the Opposition parties to join hands.

Mr. Laloo Yadav, who called on the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, told presspersons here that he had asked the major Opposition party leaders to attend the sit-in protest against the manner in which the Government was functioning and cited instances of the UTI US-64 debacle, share market scam, and ``saffronisation of education''.

``We will not allow the country to be sold,'' he said and charged that the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, should not only be sacked but also be ``put behind bars''. ``They arrested me for conspiracy on the grounds that the Finance portfolio was with me, now what about the Union Finance Minister '' he said accusing the BJP-led Government at the Centre of adopting ``double standards''.

There should be a time-frame for the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the stock scam, which had now been asked to enlarge its scope to look into the UTI muddle. The JPC should also investigate the ``role'' of the Prime Minister's Office. Mr. Yadav said all parties which were in the Opposition should coordinate in Parliament and take on the Government. The RJD would also invite the Samajwadi Party Chief, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, for the protest. The RJD would later carry out a country- wide campaign against the Government, starting from Uttar Pradesh.

CPI(M) to launch stir against Govt.

Date: 14-08-2001 :: Pg: 11 :: Col:

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will launch a month-long country-wide agitation in September against the Centre's policies.

``This is a party programme. The CPI (M) will be going it alone,'' the party general secretary, Mr. Harkishan Singh Surjeet, said told reporters here today.

The agitation will begin on September 7. It will hold meetings throughout the country urging the Government to scrap its policies or quit. ``The next phase of agitation will begin from September 25. Party activists will picket Central Government offices and court arrest over three days,'' Mr. Surjeet added.The party's central committee's two-day meeting, which concluded here yesterday, said the economy was in a bad shape and added that the BJP-led Government was more interested in communalising the educational system.

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