Prakash Karat lashes at Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: CPM may be supporting Pranab Mukherjee's presidential bid, but former UPA-I ally has attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his new avatar as finance minister.

In an article in CPM mouthpiece, People's Democracy, general secretary Prakash Karat wrote: "...efforts of the prime minister and his economic advisors are to meet demands of finance capital and speculators. The revival of investor sentiment and ' animal spirits' is designed to appease these interests. For the rest, the talk of curbing the fiscal deficit and the runaway expenditure means austerity measures for the people. The demand to urgently cut subsidies on fuel and fertilisers is a corollary of this."

After taking charge of the finance ministry, Singh had met officials and told them to reverse the climate of pessimism and revive animal spirits in the country's economy.