Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde has been promised a decision on the financial assistance sought by him for Maharashtra within a weeks time by Union finance minister Jaswant Singh. A visibly pleased Shinde spoke to Business Standard on a host of issues. Excerpts:
What financial recast plan have you discussed with the Union government and what has been the outcome?
I met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh on Friday (February 7) as well as the special advisor to the finance ministry, Vijay Kelkar. The finance minister considered all my suggestions sympathetically. I am thankful to him as he has promised to take a decision on these issues within a week. While the centre has not agreed to anything yet, they have appointed a committee to consider everything that we have put across. My finance secretary has been summoned in this regard tomorrow (February 15).
This is a far cry from Maharashtra
