The Hindu Business Line : CII takes Jaswant absence in its stride

(From right) Mr Ashok Soota, President, CII, Mr C. K. Prahalad, management guru, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Ltd, and Mr Anand Mahindra, Vice-President, CII, at the CII national conference and annual session in the Capital on Monday.

NEW DELHI, April 28

IF India Inc was unhappy with the last-minute regrets sent by the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, for not being able to attend the inaugural session of the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the corporates were not willing to show their sorrow just yet.

Spearheading the `everything is normal' brigade at the inaugural session was the outgoing President, Mr Ashok Soota. Addressing the session, Mr Soota said it would have been a "privilege and honour" to commence the dialogue on imperatives of competitiveness and growth "with the custodian of our economic policy, the pilot of our growth vehicle" - the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh.

"Unfortunately, the schedule in Parliament provides for the Finance Bill 2003 to be debated for three days, starting this morning. The Finance Minister has regretted, therefore, very much, his inability to be with us as it would be inappropriate to address a public meeting such as this when Parliament is to debate the Finance Bill," Mr Soota said. But matters did not end there. The CII President added that the chamber had the Finance Minister on three occasions since January this year. "CII, therefore, misses out on having the Finance Minister for the fourth time in four months. We are, of course, very disappointed," Mr Soota said.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that CII has received regrets from senior Ministers at the last moment. In the past, several top-level Ministers have sent regrets to CII.

Echoing almost similar sentiment as that expressed by Mr Soota, the former CII President and Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Mr Rahul Bajaj, said that though the Finance Minister will be missed, there was little Mr Singh could do. "Mr Singh was informed only on Saturday that he would have to reply in Parliament. So how could he come here," Mr Bajaj said.

However, there is a section in CII that feels that the time has come to stop inviting politicians especially if they are going to cancel appointments at the last moment. "These people are just interested in the party and themselves. They are not really bothered about the nation or about people who are generating not only wealth but also jobs for the nation," CII officials said.

But the CII Secretary-General, Mr Tarun Das, while expressing "disappointment" at the last-minute cancelling of Mr Singh, added that CII would continue to invite politicians. "The dialogue has to go on," he said.

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