The Left is poor man's enemy No.1: Chidambaram

WAR OF WORDS: FM says that the Left criticises everything he and the Prime Minister do for the economy.

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New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram, one of the key players in the Left's troika of capitalism, has taken another swipe at the Red camp.

Justifying the UPA's economic reforms, Chidambaram indirectly accused the Left of power without responsibility saying some 60 members of Parliament criticised everything being done by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and him to improve the economy.

"What do they want us to do? Do they only want us to distribute poverty in this country? Those who say the market growth is irrelevant and those who say the growth only helps the rich are the worst enemies of the poor," he said.

And the Left is taking strong objection to the FM's comments that they believe only distort what they espouse.

CPI General Secretary, AB Bardhan says, "I am amused at his remarks. I really don't know what is the commitment to the poor. I never saw him shedding tears for the poor. I have only seen him worry about the Sensex going down and who told them that we are against economic growth. Question is, what is the strategy of economic growth for the Government? I think for them it's dependence on big houses for economic growth "

So while the war of words could get shriller, the Finance Minister knows that his Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver has taken the sting out of the Left attack and come elections the Congress will first in line as claimant for being the 'Messiah of the poor'.