DEC 4: The BJP today appealed to the Congress to support the Vajpayee government at the Centre in order to speed up economic reforms.Nevertheless, Union Rural Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the Congress was presenting a ``picture of confusion'' and had become the ``butt of ridicule'' by producing a ``wishy-washy'' draft document on the economic reforms. ``Not only has the document been rightly criticised in political and intellectual circles for its utter lack of focus, it has also shown the deep split within the party on the approach to economic reforms,'' he said.He told mediapersons here that Congress leaders should realise that poverty cannot be eradicated by coining slogans like garibi hatao, but by accelerating economic growth and creating more jobs. Some of the Congress leaders even wanted India to re-embrace the party's 1956 Avadhi resolution which led to excessive government controls, bred inefficiency and suppressed Indian enterprises, he alleged.Pointing out that the process of economic reforms was initiated in 1991 by Narasimha Rao, he said, most of the critics of reforms today used to be ministers in the Rao government. Rather than contributing to a national consensus on economic reforms, the Congress wanted to ``slow down, weaken or, in some cases, even reverse the process,'' he charged.The people of the country expect a mature response from the Congress party, he said adding that the NDA Government was willing to take any valuable and meaningful suggestion from the Congress. Welcoming meaningful suggestions from the Congress, he asked the party to keep the country's interest in mind and not to indulge in ``cheap'' politics.Pointing out that Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee had been in the Opposition for more than four decades, he said the Congress should play a constructive role while being in the Opposition. It should not try short cut methods to come to power, he added.
