The Hindu : Karnataka News : CMP for State yet to be formulated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

CMP for State yet to be formulated

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JUNE 2. The question as to who is formulating the proposed common minimum programme (CMP) of the new coalition Government in the State has come to the fore as the head of the AICC Economic Affairs Cell, Jairam Ramesh, is not even aware of any such move.

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, and the Janata Dal (Secular) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda, have been saying that Mr. Ramesh has been entrusted with the job of finalising the CMP. Mr. Ramesh expressed surprise over the proposal to adopt a CMP by the coalition Government while addressing the press here today. But he said this had been done in States where the Congress was a partner in the Government or supporting the ruling party. A CMP had been adopted in Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Ramesh, a former Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board, said it should not be difficult to adopt a CMP in the State, as there were no major differences between the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) over economic matters. The CMP for the State should lay emphasis on issues of concern to agriculture such as completion of irrigation projects, ensuring fair prices and price stabilisation for agricultural produce and effective crop insurance.

Mr. Ramesh said it was a "protest vote" by farmers, which went against the Congress in the Assembly elections in particular. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had done well in the State in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The economic reforms carried out by the S.M. Krishna Government did not benefit farmers. The same could be said about the defeat of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. Even in Haryana, farmers had voted against the ruling party.

Mr. Ramesh sought to assure the people of the State that the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre would not take any decision harming the interests of Karnataka merely because it (State) was without representation in the Union Cabinet. When it was pointed out that neighbouring Tamil Nadu had half a dozen Cabinet ministers, Mr. Ramesh said that the one dispute between the two States was over the sharing of Cauvery waters.

The UPA Government had in its CMP said with regard to the Cauvery dispute "the UPA will take all steps to ensure that long-pending inter-State disputes on river and water sharing like the Cauvery waters dispute are settled amicably at the earliest, keeping in mind the interests of all parties to the dispute."

He spoke of the Opposition in States such as Bihar to the NDA Government's plan to interlink rivers. The Government had to study the feasibility of the project. About the decision of the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh to supply electricity free to farmers, Mr. Ramesh said the situation in that State was unique, as 3,000 farmers had committed suicide. Moreover, under the Electricity Act, there was no ban on supplying power free to any sector. In Andhra Pradesh, the subsidy provided to the agricultural sector in respect of electricity would now go up from Rs. 1,500 crore to Rs. 2,000 crore. He said the Congress Government in Punjab was no longer supplying electricity free to farmers. To a question, he said there was no going back on reforms in the power sector. The role of the private sector in the distribution of electricity had come to be recognised.

Eight States had "unbundled" the distribution of electricity. The last date of June 4 for such decisions by all States required to be extended.

To another question on the United Progressive Alliance Government's decision announced in the CMP to introduce affirmative action, including reservations in the private sector, he said the CMP only spoke of starting a national dialogue.

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