Left leaders get threats for blocking N-deal

PART OF POLITICS: CPI leader D Raja confirms his party received a letter threatening him.

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New Delhi: Four top Communist leaders on Sunday received death threats by mail for blocking the India-US civil nuclear deal and for allegedly "harassing" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.

CPI-M leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury and CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja got identical copies of the letter in flawed English, sources in both groups told IANS.

"May god bless this country to eliminate these r***** by any means. People are fed up with you. Enough is enough," read the letter, which came from Mumbai.

Confirming that he had received the letter, Raja told IANS. "These kind of things keep happening in politics. We do not take it seriously."

A CPI-M source said Karat too had got the hand-written letter along with a computer printout.

Accusing the Left leaders of "hijacking the national interests", the letter asked the Communists, who are bitterly opposed to the nuclear deal, not to behave like "terrorists".

"Do not hold this country for ransom. Do not behave like terrorists," the letter said. It said the Communists were "suffering from blood cancer, namely anti-American virus".

"People of this country are tired with the r------- behaviour and for harassing the government for the last four-and-a-half years." A noting in the letter says a copy had been sent to the Congress office.

Alleging that the Left had blocked economic reforms and foreign direct investment, it warned that the Karat and his party would not get not even 15 Lok Sabha seats in any future election.

There was, however, a word of appreciation for Yechury. "Of the four, we consider Yechury as a just and a reasonable person. Please try to convince the three remaining r*****," it said.