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Vajpayee's telecom plans upset Narayanan

George Iype in New Delhi

President K R Narayanan is unhappy about a series of decisions by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which he feels are against the Model Code of Conduct and oversteps the power vested in a caretaker regime.

Official sources said the Vajpayee government's rebutting the President's disapproval of the recent telecom package has "considerably upset" Narayanan.

Prime Minister Vajpayee on Monday had sent a detailed letter to the President defending the government's plan to bail out telecom firms. Narayanan had opposed the package approved by the Union Cabinet on July 6 as it was okayed just hours before the EC announced the Lok Sabha election.

The President had also recommended shelving the implementation of the telecom policy till a new government was installed.

Vajpayee pointed out in his letter that the package was not a new policy, but an extension of the New Telecom Policy, which the government cleared in March. As per the original telecom policy, implemented in 1994, private operators were permitted to go in for only fixed license fees. But the operators who had to pay heavy fees complained that they could not pay so much as the business did not warrant such a plan. Communication Minister Jagmohan, however, stood firm, cancelled the licences of three operators and ordered the others to pay up immediately. The prime minister had then intervened and shifted Jagmohan to the urban development ministry, and announced the bailout package earlier this month.

Rashtrapathi Bhavan sources said the President would not now write a second letter to the prime minister asking him to withhold the government's plan, which has been widely welcomed by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Narayanan is also believed to be seeking legal and constitutional advice to ascertain if the government's decision is within the parameters of a caretaker government on the eve of the elections.

The prime minister is expected to meet the President personally to apprise him again of the telecom plan. Sources said in an attempt to reach a compromise, it is likely that the government could seek legal opinion and re-examination of the issue by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

However, with the likelihood of the President not pressing the subject further, it is almost certain that the government will implement the new package despite strong criticism from several Opposition parties.

Sources said it is not the package alone that Narayanan was upset with. "The President is disturbed that a caretaker government is bent on taking controversial decisions without consulting him," an official told rediff.com.

However, he added, the differences of opinion between the President and the government cannot be termed "a confrontation." "The President feels his actions are within the constitutional parameters and (that he) has a right to question a caretaker government," he said.

Last week, Narayanan had rejected a proposal to appoint a new chief justice to the Calcutta high court. He has also been unhappy with the Vajpayee government for sternly rejecting the Opposition demand for a special Rajya Sabha session in the wake of the Kargil conflict.

Officials say "the serious differences of opinion" between Narayanan and Vajpayee began in April this year when a number of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and pro-BJP legal experts held the President responsible for the government's defeat in the Lok Sabha.

Questions about Narayanan's "discretion" in asking Vajpayee to seek a vote of confidence on April 17 had then appeared in the media. "Since then, the relations between the President and the government has not smooth," an official said.

For their part, the BJP leaders point out that the President in the last two months has been placing the government in "embarrassing situations" by inviting junior ministers and bureaucrats to seek clarifications on major administrative decisions.

Recently, Narayanan had summoned Urban Development Minister Jagmohan, whose opposition to the bailout package led to his removal from the communication ministry.

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