IANS
New Delhi, May 23
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become the central pole of Indian politics and, in future, Indian politics will be guided along pro or anti BJP lines.Speaking during a press conference here, Jaitley also said the BJP is hopeful of winning the Bihar assembly election later this year as he termed the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United coalition as “impractical”.
“BJP hopes to win the polls that are to happen in Bihar soon. An impractical coalition is set to try and stop us. I am sure we, along with our allies, will come to power in Bihar,” Jaitley said.
Stating that the BJP had become the central pole of Indian politics in the last two decades, he said: “From now onwards the country’s polity will be guided either on pro BJP or on anti BJP line.”
“There has been a good coordination between the government and the organisation in the last one year. Our party and our cadre are proud of our performance,” the senior BJP leader said on the occasion of one-year of the Modi government, adding: “The last one year has been historic for BJP.”
Talking about the achievements of the Modi government, Jaitley said, “We have been able to bring inflation under control to a great extent in the last one year since international prices of crude oil have come down.”
However, he said that due to the global economy and domestic disturbances, the “agrarian situation poses a challenge to our economy”.
Stating that now there was “clarity of direction” and “policy paralysis has been fought down”, Jaitley said: “Corruption has been replaced by transparent governance”, and “crony capitalism has been replaced by liberal policy.”
He also said the last one year has “restored the credibility, stature of PMO”.
“In this government the last word belongs to the prime minister and that is how it should be. When there was UPA in power, government was run from outside. We have reversed this situation,” he added.
He said that despite ideological differences the BJP formed a coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
This experiment with the PDP would be in “the country’s interest in the long term”, he said, adding that the verdict given by the people made this coalition possible.
“The government has decided that May 26 to May 31 will be observed as ‘Jan Kalyan Parv’ under which the ministers, MPs and senior functionaries of (BJP) will travel across the country to highlight the welfare measures and various policies and initiatives taken by it for the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and farmers,” Union Minister Anant Kumar said.
The party also plans to organise 200 big and 5000 small rallies. It will also organise 200 press conferences across the country, he added.
‘No statehood rights to Delhi unless there is consensus’
PTI
New Delhi, May 23
Amid a raging row over exercise of powers in Delhi, Centre today said that full statehood rights cannot be given to Delhi government unless there is a general consensus in the country on the issue as it is the national capital.
“Whenever there will be general consensus in the country on giving full statehood status to the national capital, it is possible. But till that is not done, full statehood rights cannot be given to the state government,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. He was asked about BJP’s views on granting full statehood to Delhi, as promised by it in the past.
He, however, noted that the confusion over rights exercised by the Centre and the elected government would lead to “offices being shut down” and to avoid that the Home Ministry had issued the classificatory notification yesterday.
“If there is confusion, then offices will be locked. And to ensure offices are not shut, it is Centre’s responsibility to clarify and Home Ministry has fulfilled that responsibility by issuing a classificatory notification to make it clear what rights rest with the Centre and what with the elected government,” he said.
On the ongoing controversy between the Lt Governor and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over appointment of officers, he said people of Delhi were waiting for governance by the elected government even after 100 days of being in power.
“The elected government should strive and the public is waiting for 100 days that within the domain of those rights, it initiates steps to provide governance in Delhi,” he said.
The Minister said Delhi is a Union Territory, which is today’s constitutional truth and Union Territories are under the Centre, but Delhi and Puducherry that have elected governments have separate arrangements, where some constitutional rights have been given to them.
The rights not given to their elected governments rest with the Centre and those rights are exercised by the Lt Governor, he said, adding that there is no scope for any grey area.
The Centre yesterday put its weight behind Delhi LG who has been given absolute powers in appointment of bureaucrats and he need not “consult” the chief minister on subjects like transfer of senior officers, police and public order.
Arvind Kejrial Government had attacked the Centre over the notification, accusing it of trying to rule Delhi through the backdoor and protect the corrupt.
