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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, April 18: President KR Narayanan today began consultations with political parties for evolving a solution to the ticklish question of passing the Budget.
However, differences between the caretaker AB Vajpayee government and the Congress over some of the Budget proposals could lead to problems in the passage of the Finance Bill.
While the Vajpayee Government has made it clear that it is willing to introduce the Finance Bill if it is passed without any amendments, the Congress has indicated that it wants two specific proposals of Yashwant Sinha's Budget removed if it is to cooperate.
The Congress will not agree to clear Sinha's budgetary proposal for renaming the Indira Aawas Yojna and Jawahar Rozgar Yojna and it has also taken exception to the proposal for tax exemptions to religious organisations like the VHP and the RSS.
If the Finance Bill is not approved before May 15, excise and customs duties will automatically revert to the pre-Budget rates. Even the government will have to refund theexcise and customs duties collected since March 1.
The Vajpayee Government is reportedly peeved that President Narayanan invited a Congress delegation consisting of Sharad Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh to discuss the Budget, before formally consulting either the BJP or other political parties.
Narayanan today spoke to Prime Minister Vajpayee on the phone on the subject. He has also asked Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi to hold a meeting of all political parties on Monday to find a solution to avert an economic crisis if the Union Budget could not be cleared because of problems related the formation of a new government.
Vajpayee is understood to have explained to the President and his Cabinet colleagues and allies that his government cannot take any initiative to pass the Finance Bill in the wake of the President's own communique of April 14 asking him to seek a confidence vote.
Now that he has lost the confidence of the House, he is no position to take the initiative to pass the Bill.Secondly, the Cabinet Secretariat has also issued a circular at the behest of the President making it clear that his caretaker government cannot take even major investment decisions let alone any policy decision.
Since Finance Bill is a major policy decision, the BJP alliance feels that the onus is now on the President to find a way out to get the Budget approved with the cooperation of other political parties.
``If the President wants it to be passed, it is for him to find a solution,'' said one Cabinet minister who was present at the meeting.
Yashwant Sinha's statement that the Budget was now the property of the House and the new government had to take a decision reflects a hardening of the BJP posture, which seems to be adopting the line of `take it or leave it.'
The Left parties also want the introduction of some amendments and have made it clear that they do not want to be a party to approving the Bill in the the present form.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar, who met thePresident this morning, was optimistic about the passage of the Budget.``Our approach towards the Budget would be constructive,'' Pawar told reporters. He said the problems relating to the Budget would be sorted out within a day or two.
Pawar said he had not discussed the matter yet with the Vajpayee government.A solution suggested to get around the possible impasse is to allow the caretaker government to pass the Bill while the other parties which have objections walk out of the House. After an alternative government is formed, some of the provisions in the BJP's Finance Bill can be amended.
Pranab Mukherjee hinted today that there are other ``constitutional provisions'' available, but he did not elaborate.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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