The Hindu : Who is to foot the bill, asks Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 10, 2004

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National

Who is to foot the bill, asks Congress

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 9 . Without "grudging" the concessions announced by the Government on Thursday, the Congress today described the sops as a "poll gimmick" and demanded that the nation be told who would foot the bill — estimated to be Rs. 11,000 crores — as "there is no such thing as a free lunch."

Briefing the media, the Congress spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, said the fiscal concessions announced on Thursday by the BJP-led NDA Government revealed its "true" priorities. Further, he echoed a concern expressed by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, earlier in the afternoon on how there was nothing in the package for farmers, farm labourers, rural India, and workers in the unorganised sector. However, with the Government announcing another package shortly before the Congress briefing, the development was brought to his notice during the press conference and Mr. Reddy had to quickly rework the official reaction to add that the current dispensation was on a "concession spree". In fact, minutes before he had said that the Congress was sure Thursday's announcement was "not the end but indeed the beginning of election-eve sops."

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