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Advani too is happy with govt's performance

Union Home Minister L K Advani is a happy man -- happy at the resilience and performance of the government at the Centre, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, in the first year of its existence.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's stability has made ''our opponents and cynics'' eat their words, he said in an interview Thursday.

Advani said the coalition government was faced with formidable difficulties but had overcome these admirably.

He said the government had numerous achievements to be proud of, among them the Pokhran nuclear tests, the turnaround in Kashmir, Vajpayee's historic bus ride to Lahore, and the ''hard-headed'' Budget 1999.

No less remarkable was the fact that it has been an year free of scams and scandals or any major riot anywhere in the country. The number of deaths in communal clashes in 1998 was he lowest in 10 years, the home minister said quoting statistics.

Advani said the government encountered two major difficulties: the lack of numbers in Parliament and an ''unhealthy administrative set-up'', which it inherited.

Speaking about the government's members in Parliament, Advani lamented that in the Lok Sabha with pre-election and post-election allies, the government ''barely cobbles up majority'' whereas in the Rajya Sabha, with all the allies put together, ''we are in a hopeless minority.''

The fate of two preceding coalitions being what it was, the question whether the Vajpayee government would last perpetually hovered over them, he said.

This regime came to power on the plank of ''stable government, able leader'' and ''when we felt ourselves short of majority, our adversaries thought that the stability plank has collapsed.''

''Cynics do say the fact that the government has lasted for one year is an achievement, but the government's achievements are substantial and solid," he said, "When I spoke about certain wholesome initiatives taken by the government, I had in mind the government's information technology policy, and the attention that the government devoted to human resource development, rural development and health.''

UNI

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