Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is confident the price
rise of essential commodities is not an "all-India"
phenomenon and will not become an over-arching issue in the
forthcoming Assembly elections. Consequently, he feels, it
will not work too much to the BJP's disadvantage.
Mr Vajpayee said while price rise was in sharp focus in
Delhi, issues in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were quite
different. The Congress had no policy alternative to offer
and was purely banking on a "negative vote" to boost its
performance, he said.
The polls would not cast a shadow on his Government, Mr
Vajpayee said, adding "In Rajasthan, the development work
has been impressive and that will be our plank. Prices are
a factor in Delhi, but there is a change. In Madhya Pradesh
the party is in good shape and well-placed."
Speaking to a group of journalists on board his aircraft
during the journey to Mumbai on Friday, the Prime Minister
asserted that friction in the ruling alliance would not be
a disadvantage. While allies had their "small demands,"
there was no disagreement on policy matters.
Looking relaxed as he spoke on a range of issues
confronting the Government, the Prime Minister dismissed
suggestions that he had not been assertive enough by
avoiding a Chief Minister's meeting on the price spiral.
"Such meetings see the states defending their respective
roles. The Government is acting at all levels on this
issue."
On Delhi elections, Mr Vajpayee said there was no
connection, as alleged, between Chief Minister Sushma
Swaraj and the notorious businessman-politician Romesh
Sharma. "The police had conducted investigations and she
has nothing to do with Romesh Sharma."
The Prime Minister admitted the polls would have a
political fallout. "The polls will tell us what the people
are thinking. But we are in the Centre and have a majority.
The onus is on the Congress to do something or the other,"
he said.
Asked about his recent statement that authorities would get
more Bofors papers soon, Mr Vajpayee said sleuths expected
the final batch to arrive by December. "The papers are
expected to indicate in which bank account the money
recieved by the final beneficiary has been lodged," he
said.
Explaining the Government's efforts to bring prices of
essential commodities under control, Mr Vajpayee said that
as the news that India was likely to import certain
commodities got out, international exporters pushed up
their prices. Also, there were crop failures in east Asian
countries like Indonesia, whom the Government had
approached.
Mr Vajpayee said the Agriculture Ministry had been a bit
slow to react to the developing crisis even though Union
Environment and Forests Minister Suresh Prabhu had written
a letter warning of the onion crisis in Nashik.
The Prime Minister said there were limits to the
Government's action."How many raids can you conduct? The
Government has to act within the confines of the law to
crack down on hoarders and black marketeers who suddenly
sense that they can make profits," he said.
On national security highlighted in recent cases linking
dubious business, underworld and agencies such as ISI, the
Prime Minister said there had been a drop in the morale of
the police forces. "In Maharashtra, this seems to be the
case as courts have come down heavily on action that the
police has taken against criminals," he said.
While maintaining that the "mini-TADA" legislation that the
Maharashtra Government had sought to frame was not required
at the central level, Mr Vajpayee said certain judgements
had come as a damper for security agencies.
He pointed out that the self-appointed People's Commission
in Punjab was an unwelcome development. "Even though
officials are not present at such courts, their public
image takes a beating when such commissions pronounce
sentences and list out alleged crimes," the Prime Minister
said.