Cong CMs meet to focus on agriculture

Nainital, Uttaranchal, Sep 22: An action plan to check the growing trend of farmers' suicides and to tackle the menace of terrorists and naxalite activities in various parts of the country is likely to be chalked out in the two-day Chief Ministers' Conclave of the Congress-ruled States beginning here tomorrow.

The Conclave, the seventh in the series, will review the steps taken by the Congress-ruled States to deal with the problems of farmers forcing them to commit suicide and the measures taken by them to curb the menace of insurgency and naxalites.

To be inaugurated by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the Conclave will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Chief Ministers of 14 Congress-ruled States, besides the AICC General Secretaries incharge of the various States.

Union Minister for Finance P Chidambaram and Home Minister Shivraj Patil will also interact with the Chief Ministers at the Conclave. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee,who was also scheduled to attend the Conclave, is unable to do so as he will be away in New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting where he will represent the Prime Minister.

Though the Conclave will be focused on agriculture, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has not been invited as he is not from the Congress. However, his deputy, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria is likely to be present.

The Congress Chief Ministers will be hard put to explain to the party leadership the reasons for their failure in not doing enough to solve the problems of the farmers leading to several cases of suicide as also their inability to put an end to the terrorist and naxalite activities.

Maharashtra being the worst affected States as regards farmers' suicides and terrorist activities, followed by Andhra Pradesh, the spotlight will be on the Chief Ministers of the two States, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajshekhar Reddy, both of whom will have to explain the causes for the prevailing two phenomenons.

The Conclave is also likely to chalk out a strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections in four states of Uttaranchal, Punjab, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh, three of which are Congress-ruled States.

The Conclave takes place against the backdrop of growing number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in some States, particularly Maharashtra, which have earned a bad name for the Congress-led UPA Government at a time when Assembly elections to four States are approaching. Also a cause for worry for the Congress is that terrorist activities in some parts of the country continue unabated with no let up in naxalite activities.

The Congress is concerned that suicides by farmers have continued despite special packages for farmers announced by the Prime Minister for some States, including Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

The Prime Minister, who will also interact with the Chief Ministers, is expected to ascertain from them to what extent they have implemented his directives on internal security given at the time of the meeting of Chief Ministers of all the States convened by him on the subject in Delhi recently.

The Chief Ministers Conclave of the Congress-ruled States here is the second since the Congress-led UPA coalition Government came to power at the Centre more than two and a half years ago, the first being in Chandigarh.

The practice to hold the Chief Ministers Conclave was started by Congress President Sonia Gandhi while the party was in the Opposition to evaluate the performance of the Congress Chief Ministers in the implementation of the Congress Manifesto in their respective States.

Such conclaves have so far been held in Guwahati, Mount Abu, Srinagar, twice in Delhi, besides Chandigarh. Such conclaves have been helpful for the party to set its agenda for the future.

The Conclave will begin at 1100 hrs tomorrow with an inaugural address by Ms Gandhi and will end up the following evening with her concluding remarks. The Prime Minister is expected to address the Conclave on the inaugural day.

UNI