Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said Saturday the ongoing political crisis will not upset economic reforms and allayed apprehensions about the passage of the recent budget in parliament.
"I do not think reforms program is going to be affected by the crisis. We are determined to continue the reforms process," Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the central bank.
India's budget last month unveiled a host of politically sensitive reforms, such as easier rules on labour lay offs and a reduction in the size of the government, which was hailed as "path breaking" by economists and industrialists.
Sinha said he was confident the federal budget for the financial year ending March 2002 would be passed in parliament as the ruling coalition government has a majority.
The Indian government has been plunged into deep turmoil following an arms bribery scandal which has led to the resignation of Defence Minister George Fernandes and the withdrawal of a key ally from the ruling coalition.
Opposition political parties forced the adjournment of parliament for three consecutive days from Wednesday and intensified demands that the whole Indian cabinet should step down.
The scandal which broke on Tuesday surrounds a website video expose of corruption in defence procurement circles, showing senior politicians, bureaucrats and army officials apparently taking bribes from journalists posing as arms dealers.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last night ordered a four-month inquiry into the bribery scandal.
The finance minister said he government would skirt around any hurdle which may come in the path of reforms.
"We will not let any administrative and bureaucratic bottlenecks come in the way of reforms," Sinha said -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
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