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PM's' meeting - absentees or uninvited?

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Jan. 4

THE high-level, though informal, meeting of a select group of Union Ministers convened by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on Wednesday is being hailed as a positive signal by various apex chambers of commerce and industry.

In an atmosphere where differences between various Ministries over privatisation and disinvestment appear to crop up every other day in recent times, the ``pro-reformers'' meeting is a pointer to the NDA Government's commitment on pushing ahead with the second generation reforms.

Briefing newspersons outside the Prime Minister's residence after the two-hour deliberations which remained inconclusive, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, pointed out that the meeting was neither one of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD ) nor that of the Group of Ministers (GoM).

It was, in fact, an informal meeting in which, apart from a presentation on the state of the economy and highlighting the ``worrisome factors'' and discussions on the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, the participants were invited to offer their view s and suggestions so that the Budget for the new fiscal could be a ``growth-oriented'' one, as desired by Mr Vajpayee.

Other issues that came up for discussions were disinvestment and privatisation, reduction of various subsidies and Budgetary support and ways of downsizing the Government.

Mr Vajpayee, during the meeting, also made it clear that while the differences among Ministers on various reform issues, such as disinvestment and privatisation, should be sorted out through a consensus approach, the decisions taken should be implemented without any delay. This was one aspect which Mr Sinha stressed on, that ``the differences are exaggerated. The Government is one with regard to economic policy-making...''

Curiously, the fact remains that those Ministers who have essentially voiced their differences over various issues in recent times were not present at the meeting. The Communications Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, was in Thiruvananthapuram where he had t o participate in a Janashakti (his party) conference and lay a foundation stone for a telecom training centre. He returned to the Capital Wednesday night. Enquiries revealed that he was not invited to the meeting either.

The Railways Minister, Ms. Mamata Bannerjee, who has been against reduction in subsidies - and was instrumental in the petro-goods prices rollback - is still away in Keshpur (Midnapore) in West Bengal where she is busy fighting a political battle. The Mi nister for Heavy Industries, Mr Manohar Joshi, who had initially objected to the Maruti Udyog sell-out was also out of station.

Was the Prime Minister's meeting convened in a hurry, without ensuring the presence of these three Ministers. The point is that, whether the Government likes it or not, their absence from the high-level meeting has been duly noted by the media.