Monday, Feb 17, 2003
Monday, Feb 17, 2003 |
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By Our Special Correspondent
During a day-long stay in the capital, the TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, met the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, where he is understood to have clearly spelt out his party's views on Ayodhya. "There is no consensus on the issue and even religious leaders failed, the matter is with the Supreme Court and we are confident the court will go on merit,'' Mr. Naidu later told the presspersons. He said once the courts pronounced the judgment, all parties including religious outfits should follow it. Obviously, Mr. Naidu's advice was in response to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's strident posture that in the matter of faith, courts could not have a role. Present at his meeting with Mr. Vajpayee were the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, the Defence Minister and NDA convener, George Fernandes, and the BJP president, M. Venkaiah Naidu. On the eve of the Budget session of Parliament, Mr. Naidu later chaired a meeting of the TDP Parliamentary Party which was attended by majority of MPs including K. Yerrannaidu and C. Ramachandraiah. The TDP leader said that while the issue of Ayoydha did figure in his discussions with the top BJP/NDA leaders, he refused to elaborate beyond reiterating the party's known stand. He said the TDP was supporting the BJP-led NDA Government from outside and emphasised that today's deliberations had a high content of economic issues. Mr. Naidu also said Central Government leaders had responded positively to his suggestions. The Chief Minister said his suggestions were aimed at speeding up the reform process and cautioned that the high rate of growth anticipated by the Government could be achieved only if corrections were carried out.
Economic issues
In his detailed presentation, Mr. Naidu took up issues relating to agriculture, industry, infrastructure and Centre-State fiscal matters. On agriculture, he suggested a comprehensive policy framework to encourage agri-business activities to push its share from a meagre 3 per cent at present, encourage efficient use of water and energy in the sector by giving concession credit and subsidies for investing in such micro projects and ensure compliance of agricultural lending by banks. He advocated the removal of ceiling on foreign direct investment, initiate labour reforms by amending various laws, provide incentive for tourism promotion and sports. The other areas for action include special package of financial incentives and duty concessions in textiles, IT, hardware and food processing, and removal of anomalies in custom duty structure. Mr. Naidu also pitched for a comprehensive policy on infrastructure development suggesting open-skies, deregulation by transferring subjects from the Centre's to States' list, debt swapping for infrastructure projects and creating special economic zones.
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