New Delhi, The Communist Party of India (CPI) Sunday accused the Manmohan Singh government of "diverting all its energies" to the India-US civil nuclear deal instead of checking galloping inflation and price rise.

“The political crisis and uncertainty into which the country has been plunged is of the UPA government's own making,” said CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan after a meeting of the party's national council - the first since the four Left parties withdrew support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) July 9. The council has 131 members.

“The high-powered campaign on the Indo-US nuclear deal actually diverts attention from the pressing problems,” the CPI central secretariat statement said.

“The government is indulging in a deceptive campaign by grossly exaggerating the benefits, which it says will accrue from the deal, when actually nuclear energy for a long time to come will contribute only a small part of our energy requirements,” Bardhan said.

He said those at the “helm of the government by doggedly pursuing the neo-liberal policies have totally mismanaged the national economy resulting in rising inflation, unimaginable disparities, chronic crisis in agriculture, and growing unemployment in the country.”

The government had failed to curb inflation and created an atmosphere of political uncertainty, that had led to the “resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its communal forces.”

The communist leader charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of bringing the nuclear deal into the parliament after “all steps had already been taken to operationalise it. This is not an indication of his desire to consult the Parliament, but to present it with a fait accompli.”

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