Cong rushes to UPA’s defence, targets Raman

Raipur, May 10, 2011

A day after Chief Minister Raman Singh’s remark that the Union government was adopting step motherly attitude towards Chhattisgarh, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) quickly rushed to the Centre’s defence and squarely blamed the CM for state’s deplorable condition. “Singh habitually blames Centre in spite of latter’s full support to the state,” said the PCC president Nandkumar Patel, leader of Congress Legislators Party (CLP) Ravindra Choubey, Parliamentarians Charandas Mahant and Ingrid McLeod and spokesperson Ramesh Varlyani in a joint release on Tuesday.

Notably, Singh took a dig at the UPA government for ignoring Chhattisgarh during the first day of the two-day Chief Ministers’ Conclave organised by BJP at New Delhi on May 9, 2011. He said the Centre not only deferred release of funds but also provided insufficient paramilitary forces to deal Maoists.

The Congress clarified that the Centre had always backed the state on naxal issue. “In fact, the UPA has provided forty-fold more security forces than those sent by the NDA government in the past when Lal Krishna Advani was Union Home Minister. However, in spite of large resources, the state government failed to curb naxalism,” the Congress leaders said.

They pointed out that the UPA government had also provided Rs 250 to the Raman Singh government in the last fiscal for development of naxal-infested districts but several complaints surfaced pertaining to misuse of that fund.

“Even the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), had proposed the state government that it was ready to contribute in the development of naxal-affected areas of Bastar, but the Raman Singh government did not take any initiative in this direction,” they said.

On delay in release of Rs 1000 crore for road construction works under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) in state, the Congress leaders said, “The Centre has held the fund because of three reason – first, the newly constructed roads are substandard. Second, the state government has neither taken any action against the guilty officials and contractors nor has directed them to reconstruct the roads according to norms. Third, the state government itself delayed in producing the reports of newly constructed roads to the Centre.”

They said instead of blaming the Union government, Singh should issue white paper regarding development works carried under Centrally-sponsored schemes and funds.