'State has left A.P. far behind'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JULY 11. As expected, the AICC Coordination Committee for Karnataka, on Wednesday gave full marks to the S. M. Krishna Ministry in implementing the Congress election manifesto and declared Karnataka as the best administered State in the country.

Ms. Ambika Soni, AICC General Secretary in-charge of the State, declared after the review that the Krishna Government had left the Andhra Pradesh Government, headed by Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, far behind, indicating that the Congress considered the Telugu Desam Party government's record as the yardstick.

She maintained that the review was not aimed at going into the record of the ministers. It was the prerogative of the Chief Minister, who enjoyed the confidence of the party President (Ms. Sonia Gandhi), to include, or drop anyone from the ministry. However, she is reported to have told a television channel that ministers who were incompetent would be warned. But at the Press briefing held after the review, Ms. Soni took the stand that she was not qualified to speak on the performance of the ministers.

What came as a surprise was that the committee took just two hours to assess the record of the Government in implementing the poll promises. What was glaring was that it did not hear any of the ministers, who were waiting anxiously at ``Krishna,'' the home office of the Chief Minister where the review took place. In fact, even senior ministers were not allowed to approach the conference hall.

Those who attended the meeting were three out of four members of the committee - the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Ms. Soni and the AICC Secretary, Major Vedprakash, Mr. Shivaraj Patil, MP and former Lok Sabha Speaker, was not present. The Government was represented by Mr. Krishna and the KPCC by its President, Mr. Allum Veerabhadrappa, who continues to be the Minister of State for Horticulture. The other objective of the review was to improve the coordination between the Government and the party.

Dr. Singh had given credit to the Krishna Government on Tuesday evening and said that his party government had made Karnataka the best administered State. More than reviewing the performance of the Government in implementing schemes to benefit the poor, they had come here to learn. The review would not be an ``inquisition'' of those in the Government, he had said.

Today's review turned out to be an anti-climax considering that the previous review undertaken by the AICC in November 2000 lasted two days and individual ministers had been quizzed. However, even then the Government had come in for praise over its performance and no minister was dropped.

Ms. Soni told presspersons after the review that it was a routine ``in-house exercise''. The panel was satisfied with the performance of the Government in implementing the poverty alleviation programmes. It had built 1.6 lakh houses under the Indira Awaz Yojana and other housing programmes.

The meeting discussed the drought-like situation in parts of the State. The committee was more than satisfied with the performance of the Government which should get the number one slot in that respect.

Asked why the review meeting was held within weeks of the conference of chief ministers of Congress-ruled States convened by the AICC, Ms. Soni said today's meeting had a specific agenda. The conference was a general one and considered five issues - need for good governance, fiscal discipline and so on.

About the committee completing the review exercise in a couple of hours, she said: ``It was two hours of intensive discussions.''

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Church backs demand for treating caste as race in
           Indian context
Next     : 'Panchaloha' idols seized, 4 arrested