The Opposition BJP on Thursday said it is willing to consider supporting the government in expediting economic reforms if the Prime Minister takes the initiative.
“If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself takes an initiative and contacts Opposition Leader L K Advani with specific proposals, the party will examine them,” senior BJP leader and a former finance minister and Yashwant Sinha said.
His comments come two days after Finance Minister P Chidambaram expressed confidence over pursuing the reforms agenda. Earlier last week Chidambaram had also said that BJP was ?obliged? to support certain key financial sector legislations.
Sinha said the “political scenario has changed in the last few days” and what was valid earlier may or may not be valid now.
The UPA government did not pursue many key bills concerning the financial sector in Parliament as the Left Parties, which supported the government from outside, were opposed to those legislatures.
Sinha said his party’s view on economic issues are well known and the NDA had followed a liberal economic policy when it was in power.
Indicating that the party could support the government in Parliament to pass the Insurance Law Amendment Bill, Pension Bill and Banking Reforms Bill, Sihna said the Prime Minister should talk to the leader of the Opposition on this.
Soon after winning the trust vote in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Chidambaram had expressed the confidence on pursuing the reforms agenda.
Earlier in last week Chidambaram had said that main Opposition party was obliged to support the financial bills because the standing committee headed by a BJP member Ananth Kumar had approved these bills.
These include raising the foreign direct investment limit from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in insurance sector, entry of private players in the pension sector and allowing voting rights to shareholders in banks in proportion to their holding.
The former finance minister said his party earlier also offered its support to the UPA government on these bills when the Left parties were supporting the UPA, but “the government haughtily turned down our proposal,” as if we were “untouchables”.
He said the UPA government could not muster courage to take up these bills during the last four years due to stiff opposition from the Left parties, but now it wants to “better its record on economic reforms”.
On whether the Cabinet’s approval for the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra with the State Bank of India was the beginning of economic reforms under UPA regime, Sinha said it could not be.
The record of the UPA government on economic reforms has been “dismal” and it failed to push any major reforms in the last four years, Sinha added.