M A I N   N E W S

Himachal BJP rally a low-key affair
Party to emerge stronger: Shanta
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, April 7
Despite a large turnout, the rally organised to mark the three years of the Dhumal government, here today turned out to be a low-key affair due to the cancellation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s programme at the last minute.

Mr Vajpayee, who was scheduled to address the rally, could not make it to Hamirpur due to the demise of Mr Devi Lal. The absence of Mr Vajpayee at the rally came as a big disappointment to the thousands of people who had gathered at the Regional Engineering College ground from all over the state.

Presiding over the rally in absence of Mr Vajpayee, Mr Shanta Kumar, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, asserted that the party would emerge stronger after the Tehelka episode by removing the shortcomings in the system highlighted in the expose. The NDA government and the party had adequately responded to challenge by ensuring that all those who figured in the tapes resigned and by ordering a probe by a Supreme Court judge.

The BJP, he said, continued to be a party with a difference as is evident from its immediate response to the expose. Mr Bangaru Laxman, President, resigned within four hours and Mr George Fernandes, Defence Minister and Mrs Jaya Jaitley, Samata Party President followed suit. This had happened for the first time in country. During the Congress regime scandals and scams surfaced with unfailing regularity but no heads ever rolled and no inquiry was ordered. He cited the example of Rs 123 crore urea scam in this regard.

The government had made it clear that those found guilty in the probe would be punished, irrespective of their political or official status. He said Mr Vajpayee had asked him to send across this message to the people and reassure them that the party stood for probity in public life and there would be no compromise on such issues.

Launching a scathing attack on the Opposition Congress he said the party was clinging to “Tehelka straw” to keep itself afloat in the turbulent political waters. The success of the Vajpayee government, which had taken several initiatives to build a politically strong and economically self-reliant India had irked the power-hungry Congress which was shying away from debate on “Tehelka” in Parliament. He urged the people not to be misled by the “misinformation” campaign launched by the Congress which wanted to grab power by any means.

The Opposition, he said, had been unnerved by the achievements of the Vajpayee government which included testing of the nuclear bomb, devolution of more funds to states, Victories over Pakistan in the battle field and in the diplomatic arena and speedy economic uplift. He said the state’s share in the Centre’s kitty had been increased from 29 to 33.5 per cent as a result of which the outflow to states would shoot up from Rs 2,26,000 crore to Rs 4,36,000 crore. Himachal Pradesh would get Rs 2700 crore more during the period of 11th commission. Mr Vajpayee had been more than generous to the hill state and had given a special assistance of Rs 800 crore to it during the past three years.

The Union Minister reassured the people, particularly, farmers that the economic interests of the country would not be sacrificed under the WTO agreement. The government would take all necessary steps to ensure that farmers were not subjected to unfair competition due to unrestricted import.

Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, blamed the wrong policies of the Congress government for the state’s financial crisis. He said had it sincerely tried to exploit the state’s vast potential for hydel power generation. Himachal would have been a prosperous state today. Out of the total 20,000 mw of identified potential only 3828 mw was harnessed over the past 50 years. Instead of taking up projects for execution, it cancelled the agreements signed by the Shanta Kumar government for implementing projects like the 2051 mw Parbati project.

He criticised the Congress for trying to mislead the people by alleging that the plan size had been curtailed by Rs 338 crore.

He said the non-plan expenditure of the government had shot up sharply due to indiscriminate opening of schools, hospitals and other institutions by the previous Congress regime without any budgetary provision, staff and other infrastructural facilities. The annual burden on this account was a whopping Rs 550 crore.

Mr Sukh Ram, president of the HVC, said the failure of the Virbhadra Singh government to raise resources and curtail expenditure derailed the state’s economy.