UDF will create divisions in society: Prakash Karat.

Kannur : CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the Congress-led UDF would create divisions in the society and would check the progress and development of the state.

'A renewed mandate for the LDF in the state was important to the people as well as the entire country for development,' he said during an election campaign of the LDF candidate M Prakashan at Pappinissery.

He said while the Left parties' government had taken a strong stand to defend secularism, the UDF was functioning as a plaltform for all communal and caste forces.

The neo-liberal policies being pursued by the successive governments at the Centre had produced economic growth that was benefiting a few people only, he charged.

Mr Karat said the outcome of the neo-liberal policies in the country included cases of large number of suicide by farmers, growing unemployment and price hike. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had failed to curb price rise, he said and added that the Centre had cut the subsidies in food, fertilizers and petroleum products and had now announced to decontrol the price of diesel.

The UPA government was pursuing a policy of restricting the PDS system and were only ecouraging corporates to speculate in future markets, he pointed out.

The LDF government extended the coverage of the below poverty line families and brought 40 lakh families under the scheme to distribute rice at Rs two per kg which would be implemented when the LDF was elected to power, he said.

Apart from strengthening the PDS, LDF government had helped farmers, revived public sector companies and provided welfare measures to all people, he claimed.