Bitter Fm Mulls Resignation

Union finance minister P Chidambaram is seriously considering the possibility of resigning from the cabinet following the withdrawal of the Insurance Regulatory Autho-rity bill in Parliament yesterday.

Chidambaram told officials and close advisors yesterday that he felt severely let down by the manner in which a section of members in Lok Sabha were gunning for him. A bitter Chidambaram asked if he was expected to be the only one battling for economic reforms while others in the government and Parliament maintained a hands-off attitude.

Although he has not yet taken a final decision on his resignation, Chidambaram is expected to reveal his mind after discussing the matter with Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar tomorrow.

Chidambaram told some officials at 4.50 p m that he would take the flight to Madras and never come back if the BJPs amendment to the IRA bill was carried. But the Prime Ministers offer to withdraw the bill came as a complete surprise.

It was possible to save the bill after Vajpayee suggested that voting on it be deferred. With the BJP backing the government, there was no need for the Prime Minister to offer to withdraw the bill. Gujral virtually isolated the finance minister. This would not have happened if Gowda was the Prime Minister, said one of Chidambarams advisors.

His advisors were in a more belligerent mood than Chidambaram himself. Some suggested that he should now administer shock treatment to the members of the ruling elite who are unwilling to make political sacrifices for the sake of economic reforms.

But the finance minister told his advisors that it may be better to stay and do what is possible within the present political context.

Chidambaram was also upset about assurances given by leaders of the Congress and the BJP to back the bill. Vajpayee was helpless in the face of resistance to the bill from his party colleagues. Nobody knows what happened between yesterday and today to bring about such a change in Parliaments approach to the bill, one of his advisors said.

The newly aggressive BJP further stepped up the pressure on Chidambaram, with Murli Manohar Joshi asking him to step down in the wake of the IRA bill fiasco.