Four NDA states join Naidu campaign

Four NDA states join Naidu campaign
B.S. NAGARAJ

NEW DELHI, AUG 20: The Vajpayee government's efforts to prevent some of its allies from attending a meeting of chief ministers of 17 States to discuss the recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission failed today.

Gujarat, where the BJP itself is in power, and three other States ruled by its allies were represented at a meeting of finance secretaries attended by 13 States at the Andhra Bhavan today. This meeting was convened ahead of tomorrow's conclave of chief ministers organised at the initiative of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The finance secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana where NDA partners are in power also attended today's meeting. The other States represented wereKarnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland, of course, Andhra Pradesh.

The NDA had tried its best to persuade Naidu to call off the meeting. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee got into the act when on Friday he telephoned theTelugu Desam Party chief to discuss with him the ``implications'' of the CMs' meeting.

The BJP itself was quite worried over the fallout of the decision of its own chief minister in Gujarat -- Keshubhai Patel -- to participate in the conclave. That Gujarat was represented in today's meeting of finance secretaries proved that the party had failed here too.

It was not clear whether Patel will ultimately make it to tomorrow's meeting but the critical point is that by sending his finance secretary, ``Gujarat has associated itself with the cause,'' TDP sources said.

There is a similar discomfiture in the Congress over some of its CMs making common cause with the TDP chief. Karnataka and Maharashtra have not found anything wrong in doing so though Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot have supported the EFC recommendations.

At their four-hour-meeting, the finance secretaries finalised the draft of a memorandum to be submitted by the chief ministers to Vajpayee tomorrow evening.

Their deliberations revolved around the 37.5-per cent ceiling on devolution of fiscal transfers to the States, debt relief, market borrowings etc. They also focussed on taking a common view on what reliefs should be sought from the Centre.

Meanwhile, Naidu who is arriving in the Capital tonight, said in Hyderabad that the CMs' conclave did not have any political connotations. ``There is no politics involved in this. It is a only a financial problem affecting the States,'' he asserted. He also said that he had made this clear to the prime minister.