M A I N   N E W S

Govt corruption-free: PM

MUMBAI, Oct 13 (PTI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has promised a second look at the recent hike in petro product prices, today said the government had to take hard decisions in the long-term interests of the nation but gave no indication on what it proposed to do on the rollback demand.

“The path of reforms is never easy or straight. Sometimes the government has to take hard decisions in the long-term interests of the nation,” he said on the completion of one-year of his government.

Mr Vajpayee, who is convalescing at Breach Candy Hospital after his knee joint surgery, had staved off a crisis before he went for surgery promising Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee a second look at the recent increase in prices of petroleum products. She had resigned from the government and had threatened to pull out of the NDA in the absence of a rollback.

Maintaining that economic challenges had to be faced collectively, the Prime Minister said “the haves must bear a greater share of the burden than the have-nots in the transition period”.

Summing up the past one year in office, Mr Vajpayee said the country’s democracy was slowly growing in maturity to prove that a coalition government at the Centre could be stable and successful and that his governance had been free of scandals.

Mr Vajpayee said “our governance has been free of corruption and we are determined to further strengthen standards of transparency in the government and probity in public life”.

The situation in Jammu and Kashmir was improving steadily, he said, voicing confidence that it would improve further in the coming months.

Simultaneously, the circle of international support for India’s stand on Kashmir was expanding rapidly, he said, asserting that “our fight against terrorism continues and shall continue till the terrorists’ gun falls silent”.

On the economic front, the Prime Minister said the economy was growing steadily and the government was now removing the hurdles for its faster growth so that it could achieve the ambitious target of doubling the per capita income by the end of the decade.

Observing that India’s greatest asset was its unity in diversity, he asked the people to strengthen unity by creating greater tolerance and respect for linguistic, ethnic, regional and religious diversity. 

PM’s walking exercise put off
From V. Gangadhar

MUMBAI, Oct 13 — The crowds had thinned out. The excitement was on the wane. The security was unobtrusive. At Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital where Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee underwent surgery on the left knee last Tuesday it was near normalcy time.

Though the Prime Minister was recovering satisfactorily and undergoing physiotherapy, his walking exercises had not begun in right earnest. Doctors attending on Mr Vajpayee had stated that he would start walking exercises inside the room from today. Obviously, this had been postponed by a couple of days.

Normally, patients who had undergone knee joint surgery were initiated into walking exercises within a day or two.These facilitated the muscle movements and also helped normal blood circulation in the region. The delay in the case of the Prime Minister could be due to his age and general state of health.

Mr Vajpayee continued to rest, relax, read some light stuff and talk to friends. He was given soft and semi-solid food items like “khichdi”, daliya, coconut pulp and water, sweet lime water and soft biscuits. He would switch over to normal diet after a couple of days, it was learnt.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s surgery, hospitalisation and fortnight-long recuperation had thrown up several important constitutional and administrative issues. While Mr Vajpayee was being operated upon and was under local anaesthesia, there was no one effectively in charge of the government. What would have happened if there had been an armed attack across the country’s borders or even a nuclear attack? Who could have ordered the retaliation by pressing the ‘red button’ on India’s nuclear box?

There were no answers to such queries. Deliberately or otherwise, the Prime Minister did not nominate any other Cabinet Minister to officiate in his place. This was a bit unusual because in most democratic countries when the Head of the government was temporarily indisposed, the responsibility of running the government was passed on to a senior colleague. In the USA, it was the Vice-President.

Known to be a democrat at heart, Mr Vajpayee’s action in not nominating a temporary acting Prime Minister was a bit puzzling. Perhaps, he was confident of being in full control of his faculties, except for a brief period when he was under the scalpel or he did not want any controversy on this issue which could lead to a “succession war”. This issue was more sensitive in view of the nature of the coalition government at the Centre.

Home Minister L.K. Advani was in and out of Mumbai during Mr Vajpayee’s surgery. But there was no indication that the Prime Minister wanted him to act in his place during his hospitalisation. It was clear that the man who was actually “running” the government was Brajesh Mishra, the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister who was also the National Security Adviser.

Sources both in Delhi and Mumbai said Mr Mishra, a senior bureaucrat was the only person who enjoyed the complete trust of the Prime Minister. This was because he did not have any political ambitions.