Vajpayee Govt puts foreigner8217; row on backburner

While promising to fulfill the many announcements made by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at election time, the draft omits any reference to the proposed amendment debarring persons of foreign origin from holding the offices of President, Vice President and Prime Minister.

Prime Ministerial aides indicated that it was Vajpayee8217;s way of appealing for an end to the acrimony which coloured the campaign so that he can get down to the business of governance.

Thereis a pragmatic reason for this as well. The Congress party has the largest numbers in the Rajya Sabha. The Government will therefore need its support to push through all the proposed legislation, particularly the economic bills which are bound to be opposed by the Left parties.

In fact, the call for political consensus runs through the draft which lists the various pieces of legislation the Government intends to introduce in Parliament in the coming sessions. These include all the economic bills such as the Insurance Regulatory Act, Fema, etc. as well as the controversial Women8217;s Reservation Bill.

While the draft address is essentially a reiteration of the ruling National Democratic Alliance8217;s election manifesto, it departs from tradition in that it spells out specific time-bound programmes for social and economic development over the next one year. These include schemes for new roads, drinking water facilities, primary health care centres, schools and a promise to ensure greater transparency ingovernment functioning through long-delayed administrative reforms.

The Government has tried to keep the speech as short as possible, around 30 minutes. Official sources said the platitudes and generalities which usually mark this traditional address by the President when a new Government assumes office are missing this time.