Govt protecting vested interests of Chidambaram,son : BJP

Kochi, Oct 20 (UNI) All India convenor of BJP Economic Cell Jagadish Shettigar, today alleged the UPA Government was drafting policies to address the fluctuations in the stock market, to protect the 'vested interests' of Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karthik.

Speaking to reporters here, Dr Shettigar alleged ''The government was more concerned about retaining the market sentiments as Mr Chidambaram's son Karthik was an active player in the capital market.

''It has to be noted that Mr Karthik might be getting inside information on the policies to be implemented, which would help him to make investment decisions,'' he futher alleged.

Dr Shettigar urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the matter to find out whether Mr Karthik was getting information on the policy decisions beforehand to gain undue advantage in the capital market.

Commenting on the measures taken to tide over the financial crisis, Dr Shettigar said, ''measures like cut in cash reserve ration aiming at better liquidity may act as a pain killer, but cannot help in curing the actaul disease.'' He said the government, SEBI and RBI should have taken steps to regulate the banking sector, especially the private banks, which were indulging in 'aggressive banking'.

'' The global financial crisis is bound to adversely affect Indian economy sooner than later, especially in sectors like IT, real estate, consumer durables and export,'' he noted.

With the downfall of the financial services, IT majors had lost their important clients and this would affect the job prospects and salary structure in the IT sector, Dr Shettigar noted.

The government should ensure the safety of the depositors rather than focus on the availability of loanable funds, he added.

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