Draft memorandum discussed

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 20. The Finance Secretaries of 13 States today met here ahead of a meeting of their Chief Ministers convened tomorrow for Monday by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, to lodge their protest against the discrimination allegedly shown by the Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC)in allocating resources to better-developed States.

Despite the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, having spoken to Mr. Naidu a few days ago, he has obviously not been able to dissuade the latter from convening the first-ever meeting of Chief Ministers by a Chief Minister in the national capital. Once it became known that Mr. Naidu is not likely to call off the proposed conclave, BJP leaders had informally indicated that States ruled by their party and its allies would be asked not to come. However, today's three-hour preparatory meeting, which discussed a draft memoranda to be finalised by the conclave, saw attendance by officials from four States ruled by the BJP or NDA allies - Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana. This indicates that some of the BJP's allies are ready to shed their reluctance of taking on the Center when it comes to receiving lower financial assistance.

The Chief Ministers of these States are expected to present the memorandum to the Prime Minister. Sources claimed complete unanimity among all the States, including BJP-ruled Gujarat, over the adverse impact of the EFC's recommendations on States which utilised funds more efficiently and clocked better social and economic indicators. The meeting was attended by senior officials, mainly Principal and Finance Secretaries, from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam and Nagaland.

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