Sonia, Basu fail to impress Vajpayee on rollback

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, MAY 16. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today unambiguously told his two major political rivals - Ms. Sonia Gandhi and Mr. Jyoti Basu - that his government was not going to give in to the Opposition demand for a rollback of price hikes and subsidy cuts. Thrice during the course of the day, he defended his government's willingness to take ``certain hard decisions'' in the long-term interests of the economy.

The first opportunity Mr. Vajpayee got to reiterate his government's resolve was in the morning when the Leader of the Opposition and Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, led a ``protest march'' of her party MPs to the Prime Minister's House. Fully aware of the political nature of her mission, the Prime Minister did not feel the need to give the Congress(I) leaders the benefit of the doubt. He pointed out that the process of economic reforms was in fact started by a Congress(I) regime, and that while he was not exactly happy at having to take harsh measures there were no other options. He pointedly refused to give any assurance of any ``reconsideration'', despite entreaties from some members of the Congress Working Committee who had accompanied Ms. Gandhi.

Since the nature of Ms. Gandhi's mission was known, the Prime Minister had asked Mr. Shanta Kumar, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, to be at hand; and, Mr. Shanta Kumar dutifully read out excerpts from the Congress(I) manifestoes and Dr. Manmohan Singh's budget speeches to provide a rationale for the seemingly harsh decisions, similar to those taken by the BJP Government. In fact, the tone and tenor of Mr. Vajpayee's responses to the Congress(I) leaders' arguments and interruptions was clear: if the Government did not give in to its own allies, there was no political compulsion to oblige Ms. Sonia Gandhi. In any case, with the Union Budget voted and out of the way, the Prime Minister has no inclination to humour the Leader of the Opposition.

Later in the evening, the Prime Minister chose to write a detailed response to Ms. Sonia Gandhi. The opening line of the letter sums up the substance. It reads: ``I have received you letter on the aforesaid subject this morning. We have considered the matter carefully and would reiterate our response which we have articulated at length both in Parliament and outside.''

The second occasion for Mr. Vajpayee to do some plain talking was when the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Jyoti Basu, called on him. The Prime Minister told the visitor that his government had already adopted the best feature of the West Bengal policy - a reference to doubling the PDS quota for those below the poverty line. Mr. Vajpayee did not feel apologetic about his government's economic policies.

And the third occasion for the Prime Minister to defend the Budget was the end-of-the-session meeting of the BJP parliamentary party. To the merriment of his captive audience, Mr. Vajpayee described the memorandum submitted by the Congress(I) as a ``mere repetition of Congress(I) slogans'', and dismissed the Congress(I) arguments as ``loud but hollow''. The Prime Minister told his party MPs to confidently go out and spread the good word about a ``bold and sound'' budget.

In a similar vein, the BJP sought to occupy the high ``responsible'' ground by publicly patting Dr. Manmohan Singh on the back for his ``balanced'' speech earlier in the Rajya Sabha on the 89th Constitutional amendment bill. As if it was part of a well-rehearsed script, the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, also complimented Dr. Singh and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee for their ``brilliance'' and thoughtfulness.

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