Guwahati, Nov. 20: The Communist Party of India (CPI) today accused the ruling Congress in Assam of politicising welfare schemes by taking a declaration from beneficiaries that they would vote for the Congress in the ensuing Assembly elections if they wished to benefit from the schemes.

Speaking to the media, CPI leader Promode Gogoi produced what he claimed to be a photocopy of an application form for a welfare scheme in Nazira under Sivasagar district, wherein beneficiaries had to sign a declaration of their allegiance to the party.

The declaration, in Assamese, reads: ?On this date....... 2005, I in full sense give an assurance that my family and I will remain indebted to the party under whose government I got the help and in the coming Assembly elections I will help the Congress (I) candidate to win elections from Nazira Assembly constituency by voting for the hand symbol.?

The CPI leader said this was not limited to Nazira alone. ?It is common practice all over the state,? he said.

The CPI has demanded a probe into the selection of beneficiaries of welfare schemes. It said all political parties should be taken into confidence while preparing the list of beneficiaries.

Terming the government corrupt, the party demanded that four tainted ministers ? social welfare minister Gautam Roy, transport minister Anjan Dutta, urban development minister Hemprakash Narayan and planning and development minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ? be dropped from the Tarun Gogoi cabinet.

Roy had to face CBI interrogation in connection with the Pratul Deb murder case, while the other three ministers were allegedly involved in the multicrore-rupee crude-oil theft, the party said.

The CPI has intensified its efforts to put up a joint front against the Congress and the BJP. The party has already had preliminary discussions with both the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and its breakaway faction, the AGP (P), Gogoi said. The party is hopeful of bringing the two factions together on one political platform.