Centre to assess future role of Plan panel: BJP

Party welcomes debate on utility of such agencies

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said it welcomed a debate on whether institutions like the Planning Commission facilitated people’s welfare or were they a stumbling block in that effort.

It said the new government at the Centre would assess the role that bodies like the Plan Commission have played. Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the BJP was of the view that such institutions should be created not to “adjust” individuals but to serve the people of the country.

It was the BJP’s very first press conference after the formation of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Hussain answered questions on several recent controversies, including reports that the Narendra Modi-led government planned to whittle down the panel.

Hussain said the government was yet to take a decision on the power and ambit of the Planning Commission but did welcome a larger debate on relevance of institutions, whether they worked for the interest of the nation and its people or proved to be a hindrance to such work.

“Planning Commission is an institution that had said that all who earn above Rs 28 are rich. Seldom before had Planning Commission been discussed as much in an election as it was during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,” Hussain said.

He said the new government was studying and addressing several issues, including what shape and size the Plan panel should have. “We will let you know once a decision is taken. Until then, reports of its demise were all conjecture,” he said.

The press conference was held after senior BJP leadership, most of whom are now ministers in the government, felt the party should counter some of the opposition-fuelled propaganda against the BJP-led government. On the issue of private secretaries to ministers, Hussain said the BJP was of the view that bureaucrats should return to their parent cadres after having served for five years with a minister. “Governments change but these private secretaries continue to remain in Delhi instead of returning to their cadres to serve the people of that state. This is an effort in that direction,” he said.

The spokesperson claimed the Modi government has been a proactive one, as it had reduced Rs 23 on LPG cylinders and was meeting the prospect of price rise head on.

Hussain disagreed with Congress leader P Chidambaram’s assessment that the UPA government left the economy in much better condition than what it received from NDA in 2004.