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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 30: In an effort to shore up its image in the coming months, the Vajpayee Government has decided to clear pending decisions, particularly on the economic front.
Official sources said these include decisions pertaining to disinvestment in public sector undertakings, the controversial issue of license fees for telecom operators and negotiations on time-barred commitments to the WTO.
The PMO will be issuing instructions to all ministries to review pending decisions, starting Monday, and take necessary action. The quick clearance orders pertain to time-barred decisions which do not mark a radical shift in policy and do not have major financial implications.
The sources said the Government would also proceed with the process of normalising ties with Pakistan and China. This means the proposed visit of Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to Beijing is still on the cards, provided the two countries agree on dates.
However, a question mark hangs over the fate of CTBT, the international deadlinefor which is September 30, 1999. If elections are held after the monsoon, the Vajpayee Government would not like to touch an issue which has become a political hot potato, particularly on election eve.
The Prime Minister admitted as much in interviews to two weeklies, saying he did not have much hope that India would sign the treaty by the September deadline. ``If there was Parliament, we could have struck a consensus on these issues. But if elections are delayed, it may be highly improper to commit ourselves,'' he said.
He said he would try to call an all-party meeting to come to an agreement but added that he was not very optimistic on the outcome in the midst of a ``do-or-die'' election.
The Government's bid to counter the negative impact of its caretaker status comes after legal experts gave it the go-ahead. Official sources said experts consulted by it were of the unanimous view that there was no constitutional bar on a caretaker government functioning as a full-fledged government. The concept ofa caretaker government does not exist in the Constitution, the sources maintained.
It is all the more necessary to clear pending decisions if elections are delayed till after the monsoon, the sources pointed out. ``Governance cannot be allowed to stop for six months,'' a prime ministerial aide asserted.
The only restriction the Government has imposed on itself is to put on hold decisions which would overturn existing policy.
The sources said partners of the ruling alliance would meet at regular intervals to discuss the Government's actions so that they do not speak in contradictory voices as they have done in the past.
On the Indo-Pak front, the initiatives the Government is hoping to go through with are expanding visa categories and establishing commercial ties. It feels these are matters on which no successor government can put back the clock.
It will also start negotiations with G-15 and neighbouring countries to try and evolve a joint strategy on WTO negotiations which have to be concluded bythe end of the year.
Official sources said there would be no formal consultations with Opposition parties on these issues. As the Government of the day, the Vajpayee Government had every right to take these decisions, they stressed.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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