Delivering the valedictory address at the two-day BJP national council convention here, he said India had entered into an agreement with the GATT much before the BJP-led government came to power.

Apparently referring to the criticism about the recent addition to the list of OGL items, he said, there was not enough time to revise the decision taken by the previous government.

Vajpayee, who arrived in the state capital on Saturday in connection with the BJP biennial convention, said at a public meeting at Ahmedabad on Sunday night that his party believed in economic libralisation, but to generate more jobs and to ensure jobless became self-reliant. He wished the country saw more of such self-sustained projects like Konkan Railway and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation themselves raising bonds tofinance the projects. Both Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, who was intervening in the discussion on the political passed at Gandhinagar on Monday afternoon, reiterated the party's belief on politics of consensus. All important issues, including the bills to be introduced in the forthcoming budget session, would be discussed with its coalition partners as well as the opposition parties. Vajpayee said even the prime minister should be brought under the purview of the new Lok Pal Bill. Vajpayee agreed in principle to the Gujarat government's decade-old demand for creating Kutch Development Board for the sensitive westernmost and one of the least developed districts in the country. The two-day national convention, attended by over 2,500 delegates, later incorporated several amendments to the comprehensive political resolution, asking the government to evolve an economic policy to reach out to the have-nots, in deviation from one initiated by the Narasimha Rao government and pursued by the United Front to thebenefit of a handful of people. One amendment suggested that agriculture be accorded the status of industry with modification in relevant laws, and extend the benefits now available to the industry be extended to the farm sector. In another amendment, it urged the centre to abolish the sales tax, and rationalise the tax structure till an alternative was found. It resolved to further expand and consolidate the alliance of regional parties -- before and after the polls -- as partners in building a new India to stride into the next century. It craved for a bringing about a change in every sphere of life -- economic, social, political and cultural -- so much so that the huge pandal erected at the venue of the convention here has been named Parivartan Nagar.