Part-time FM not acceptable: Advani

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, today slammed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for having a “part-time” finance minister at a time when the country was facing an economic slowdown. According to him, it is a pointer to its inner “contradictions” on key issues.

Advani said this while launching his party’s election campaign before India Inc. Addressing a general body meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), he said: “There is no finance minister for (the last) two-and-a-half months who can take crucial decisions.”

Advani was referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to keep the charge of finance ministry with him after P Chidambaram was shifted to the home ministry. With Singh’s recent hospitalisation, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to present the Interim General Budget in Parliament on Monday.

Advani wondered how could Mukherjee, who is heading the highest number of Groups of Ministers (GoMs), “do justice with the Budget”.

Blaming the UPA government for ruling the country with its own “contradictions”, the BJP leader said: “This approach was responsible for the current despair in the economy.”

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate promised to infuse “hope and optimism” in the economy, in case he was chosen to lead the country, within first 100 days of his governance.

Advani told the corporate leaders that he had plans to create unlimited opportunities for them in promoting affordable and quality education in the country. He said India needed both the private as well as the public sector for growth as he saw no contradictions between the two.

Advani told the business leaders that “the economic slowdown had affected the poorest of the poor the most as the government had allowed major infrastructure projects to slow down”.

Outlining a framework of his policy for governance, Advani said his aim would be to bring in transparency in governance and ensure zero tolerance for corruption and terrorism. He, however, asked the people to be ready for harsh decisions on the lines taken by the US after the 9/11 for facing the scourge of terrorism.

However, Advani admitted the Indian society was not yet ready for accepting the harsh measures which, sometimes, could impinge upon individual freedom. “We have to think why the terrorists have not been able to strike again in the US. They too are a democracy and an open society,” he asked.