NEW DELHI: Krishna Menon, leader of the left wing of the Congress Party, yesterday [April 26] launched a violent attack against Mrs Indira Gandhi, the Indian Premier.

In his first intervention in Parliament since the late Mr Nehru`s daughter came to power, Mr Menon, now 70, denounced growing United States influence in India`s foreign and economic policies.

Mr Menon accused Mrs Gandhi`s Government of absence of initiative in the Viet-Nam war and appealing to American aid to solve India`s grave food problem.

Rejecting the argument that India could not take an initiative in Viet-Nam because of her role as Chairman of the International Control Commission, Mr Menon exclaimed: `We have never done our duty as I.C.C. Chairman by not telling the world about the extent of foreign arms brought to Viet-Nam.

Mr Menon said the World Bank was `simply another name for the United States` and stated that the Washington project for Indo-Pakistani cooperation in the Brahmaputra basin was a new American intervention in the Indian Subcontinent. Agencies [Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from Karachi,] the Karachi Union of Journalists yesterday decided to continue boycott of news and photographic coverage of activities of the local administration and its various departments and appealed to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists to consider further action, including a countrywide strike.

The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the General Body of the union held at the Karachi Press Club to formulate the future course of action against the increasing incidents of maltreatment of working journalists by police officials.