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Save government to save economy, suggests Sinha

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today cautioned political parties from any step that will push back the nation's economy which, for the first time since Independence, had been put back on the rails and was showing the effects of the 'feel good' factor.

Participating in the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sinha said the economic situation was not the responsibility of any single party and, therefore, the whole House must consider the consequences of their actions.

Providing figures to support his view that the Congress had brought the country to the brink of ruin earlier in the decade, the minister warned that anyone dealing with the Congress had been ruined. He said all the Opposition parties would regret their decision to bring the Congress back to power at the Centre. If they did not heed his warning, he said, then they would be responsible for their own ruin.

Sinha claimed that the nation was bound to cross the target of 5.8 per cent Gross Domestic Product set by the current government, in comparison to five per cent GDP last year. The wholesale price index was five per cent at the end of March, the lowest in the decade except for a brief period in 1995-96 when it had fallen to 4.4 per cent.

Sinha said his government had gone beyond party politics in the interest of the economy and asked West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to make a study on the tax wars between the states. The report had already been accepted, he said.

He also announced that a fiscal correction programme had been started to bail out all states badly affected by the Fifth Pay Commission. This was done irrespective of the party ruling there, he said. But he said the Comptroller and Auditor General had made certain adverse comments against some states. In this connection, he said the Centre had sought to help all backward states and had set up a Rs 250 billion ordnance factory in Bihar for the first time.

Sinha said most journalists he had met since this morning had expressed concern over the fate of the Union Budget. He said this was the worry of the entire nation, but the economic situation was suffering because of the political developments.

He clashed twice with Laloo Prasad Yadav who, like him, is from Bihar. When Sinha referred to Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy's presence on the same bench from which Yadav had been speaking, the Bihar leader asked the finance minister to beware of 'swamis' as one (Mohan Guruswamy) had already pulled them down. Sinha replied that this was why he was concerned over the presence of Subramanian Swamy.

At another stage, Sinha said he was not used to going to jails like the former Bihar chief minister. Thereupon, Yadav asked how Sinha would save himself after the government falls. Sinha replied the words of an evil man could have no effect on him.

UNI

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