BJP against cutting farmers’ subsidies

"We cannot afford to follow fashionable cliches. Even western countries like the United States and France are keen on ensuring farm subsidies," he pointed out.

Meanwhile, union Industries Minister Murasoli Maran and former union minister Rajesh Pilot, who presented the agendas of the United Front and Congress (I), agreed with Singh that the economic reforms would have to continue.

Criticising the United Front government for not speeding up reforms, Pilot said: "Despite this, we have tolerated them for eighteen months by offering support. Pilot said the Congress (I)wanted to ensure that the benefits of reforms reached the rural people, by ensuring better infrastructure in far flung areas. Any wide gap in living conditions between rural and urban areas will not be good for a country like India, he pointed out.

Refuting the allegation that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flowing into the country was mainly in the consumer sector, Maran said 70 per cent of the FDI was in the power sector. Only 11 per cent of the FDI was in the consumer sector, 79 per cent of which was in the fields of food-processing, passenger cars and consumer electronics.

"We need FDI for making computer chips or potato chips, as long as it brings us more jobs," he asserted.

All the three leaders felt that PSUs in strategic sectors could not be disinvested. However, the country needed more FDI in core sector projects like power plants which was now limited to 74 per cent, they agreed.

The three leaders also agreed on the necessity for ensuring protection of domestic industry whenever necessary.

While Singh said it was necessary to instill a sense of pride in the small scale sector, Maran said a new category of medium scale sector was waiting to be defined.

Asked whether foreign investors would be allowed to take over sick public sector undertakings and other industries, Singh said the BJP was keen on reformulating the policy to revive the sick units. Maran agreed with Singh’s comment that the Bureau for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) was making matters worse for sick industries.