Cong rebuts Premji's 'paralysis' charge, says govt is proactive
01 Nov 2011
A day after Wipro chairman accused the union government of paralysis in decision-making, the Congress, which heads the ruling coalition, was quick to rebut the charge. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also said Premji should have mentioned specific areas of concern.
"There is absolutely no absence of decision making in the government. Government has been taking decision in the national interest, whether it is in the international arena or domestic affairs, whether it concerns the economic policy of the country or its social programme," Tewari said.
"The UPA government is extremity pro-active. If Azim Premji does have any specific area of concern he should flag it for the government," he added.
On Monday, Premji slammed what he called "complete absence of decision making" in government, and warned that growth would suffer as a consequence.
"I think the biggest concerns are governance issues," the chairman of the country's third largest software service exporter said. Premji was speaking to reporters at a press conference in Bangalore on the sidelines of the company's second-quarter performance.
Apparently referring to scams in media spotlight, he pointed to "governance issues which are hitting headlines, hitting a little less today they were hitting a month back. You must appreciate how serious it is."
A group of 14 prominent personalities, including Premji, Keshub Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra, and Deepak Parekh of HDFC, along with senior retired bureaucrats and judges, has written two open letters to the nation's leaders in the past couple of months, expressing concern over a series of scams leading to 'governance deficit'. In the second letter, they gave some support to the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, but added that national challenges like fighting corruption cannot be solved by single-point agendas and urban protests.
On the government's response to the letters, Premji said, "So far as the open letter is concerned, the reaction of the prime minister has been positive in terms of taking it on record".
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