NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The economic resolution adopted by the Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive on Sunday lavished praise on the 'National Democratic Alliance Budget', saying it guarantees development.
Briefing reporters at the tea break, party general secretary Narendra Modi said that contrary to the Opposition's criticism, the NDA budget would help small farmers too.
The national executive, however, expressed concern at the falling interest rates on small savings and said the issue needs the government's urgent attention.
The economic resolution also laid stress on the development of landless labourers. Modi said the national executive called for more governmental attention on people living under the poverty line.
Noting that "the Budget has received widespread appreciation everywhere", Modi said "the funny Tehelka crisis and tapes" was a sinister design by the Congress to usurp power through undemocratic means.
He said the party vowed to "expose the cynical game of the Congress" whereby vested interests were trying to destabilise the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The national executive also adopted a resolution condemning the "wanton destruction" of the gigantic Buddha statues at Bamiyan and elsewhere in Afghanistan.
Modi said, "Despite the exhortation of the World Religious Congress for tolerance, the Taleban regime flagrantly defied world opinion and destroyed the statues."
Asked about the impending assembly elections in five states, Modi said discussions were continuing among the NDA allies that would be involved in the polls.
Asked about Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress and its stance on the polls in West Bengal, he said Banerjee had not yet decided her party's electoral tie-up.
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