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Vajpayee warns of an impending IMF loan

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee on Saturday evening warned that India will have to approach the International Monetary Fund by April next year if prompt and remedial measures were not initiated to improve the prevailing deteriorating economic condition.

Addressing a large gathering at the Kankaria football ground in Ahmedabad before returning to Delhi at the end of his two-day tour of Gujarat state, Vajpayee said that the political instability in the last two years had shattered the economy of the country.

He said that national security and economic growth could not be possible without a stable government at the Centre. Political instability had resulted in the closure of many industrial units, causing unemployment, and impeding the flow of foreign investment.

Stressing the need for protecting the small-scale units in the country, Vajpayee said that in a country like India, small-scale units were a major source for generating employment. He said that the small-scale units should upgrade and modernise their technology to keep pace with time. Under the garb of liberalisation, small-scale units should not be closed down, he said.

Making a vociferous demand for the imposition of President's rule in Gujarat, the former prime minister said that he would call on President K R Narayanan and impress upon him that there could be no fair and free election in the state under the caretaker government of Dilip Parikh and the ruling Rashtriya Janata Party.

He said that the Parikh ministry was in a minority and its legislature party had split. Hence, in such conditions, the imposition of President's rule was the best alternative.

About the mass exodus from the Congress, Vajpayee said that its leaders were fleeing because the ''Congress ship'' was sinking and for their safety, they were joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He said that the wind was in favour of the BJP and promised that if BJP and its allies got the adequate number of seats to form government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls, his government would change the complexion of the country in the next five years.

He said that the people were fed up with the 13-party United Front government performance in the last 18 months, and hence they wanted stability at the Centre. He deplored the rampant corruption in all spheres of life and promised to provide a clean government.

UNI