By Ramesh Kumar and Praghakar Sinha

GONE IS the uncertainty over Finance Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation.

With Prime Minister Narasimha Rao rejecting it, the focus has now shifted to how Singh can further uplift the party that backed him to the hilt.

New questions are cropping up. What is the future of reforms? Will he evince the same interest as he showed in the initial days of liberalisation?

And the final question: will the Manmohan Singh of 1994 be the same as in the past?

Rails industrialist Ramakrishna Bajaj : “ Why should his resignation be forced? Why do you nurse doubts about his commitment to economic reforms?

“With Rao pledging support to him by rallying the entire party behind Singh, his conscience should be better now. He will go ahead with his unfinished task with more vigour.”

It was widely felt that the liberalisation programme currently underway would receive a major setback if Singh were to leave the government.

Many refused to believe Singh’s assertion that the real architect of economic reforms was none other than Rao himself.

Not that anyone doubted Rao’s commitment to economic reform. But the plain truth is that it was Singh who gave shape to the new economic order and ensured its implementation.

Says Delhi-based Indian Institute of Finance director J D Aggarwal. “The Prime Minister has accepted the will of the people by rejecting Singh’s resignation and it is no secret that Narasimha Rao has full faith in Singh’s commitment to carry out the economic reforms effectively.”

According to Aggarwal, there wouldn’t be much of a long wait to test Singh’s commitment to further reforms.

Adds another economic analyst based in the capital, ”The general budget is to be presented to the nation in February which should prove to be an eye opener.”