Congress backs PM, lauds ‘big bang’ reforms
New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Tuesday endorsed the government's ‘big bang’ reforms including the FDI in multi-brand retail saying it was essential to control inflation and the depreciating value of the rupee and extended overwhelming support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his bids to overhaul the economy.
The Congress top brass on Tuesday morning met at the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take stock of the recent developments at political and economic fronts. The meeting headed by Gandhi was attended by 30 members, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The meeting of the CWC, which began with opening remarks by Gandhi, saw the government making a strong pitch for reforms with Chidambaram making it clear that unless the country's economic condition is sound, the government is not in a position to implement the flagship programmes of UPA targeted at the poor.
Addressing the meet, the Congress president emphasised over the need of improving the state of the economy. She also added that the Oppositions’ role has remained unconstructive in the recent time.
Batting for the economic reforms, the Prime Minister assured the party's apex decision-making body that the steps being taken for the poor and the disadvantaged will continue in league with the Congress policies for development and welfare of the 'Aam Admi'.
The Prime Minister said that effective steps for welfare of the poor cannot be taken unless the economy is strong.
Explaining the rationale behind the measures, Chidambaram said the government wants that the country should not get affected due to the global economic crisis.
Speaking to media after the conclusion of the meeting, Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said, “It was concluded in the meeting that present faltering economic growth of the country necessitated these reforms. It was necessary to speed up the growth of the economy to fuel the UPA government’s flagship schemes aimed at welfare of the people of the country.”
When asked about discussion over the Telangana issue, he said “No specific states were discussed during the meet.”
Congress sources said that there a likelihood of the party organising a massive rally in Delhi in support of the measures initiated by the government.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was specially called for the meeting, which saw members suggesting that rallies should be held at district level to convince the people about the need to bring in the measures like allowing 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail, hiking diesel prices and putting a cap on the supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to households.
While no resolution was adopted after the meeting, the tone and tenor of Gandhi's speech made it clear that the party was fully behind the government on the issue.
Chidambaram was called to brief the CWC members about the economic reform measures, which led to a political storm culminating in Trinamool Congress withdrawing support from the ruling alliance.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was specially called for the meeting, which saw members suggesting that rallies should be held at district level to convince the people about the need to bring in the measures like allowing 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail, hiking diesel prices and putting a cap on the supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to households.
While no resolution was adopted after the meeting, the tone and tenor of Gandhi's speech made it clear that the party was fully behind the government on the issue.
Chidambaram was called to brief the CWC members about the economic reform measures, which led to a political storm culminating in Trinamool Congress withdrawing support from the ruling alliance.
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