Although Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has repeatedly said economic reforms will continue, questioning on the pace, size and modalities of reforms does not appear to have abated.
Not only Cabinet ministers but also eminent members of the Planning Commission questioned several economic premises of the government at two successive meetings that discussed the Tenth Plan over the last two days.
The Plan document was discussed at a full meeting of the Planning Commission and later considered by Cabinet. At both venues, discordant views were expressed about disinvestment and foreign direct investment. Both meetings were chaired by the Prime Minister.
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It was not without difficulty that Vajpayee ultimately decided to overlook the discordant notes sounded by some of his Cabinet colleagues on the plan document.
Union human resource minister minister Murli Manohar Joshi was the first one to seek more time to study the document in detail before giving it an approval.
Joshi who has been cozying up with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for pursuing a swadeshi agenda found an ally in Union coal and mines minister Uma Bharti who has certain reservations on disinvestment targets. But the discordant voice was curbed at the initial stage.
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Union finance minister Jaswant Singh are believed to have together squashed Bharti's