Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress President, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, challenged the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to release the letter written by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, to the state government last month denying special financial package.
He asserted this was necessary to nail Mr Badal’s lie that the centre had not denied special package and that he would himself pursue it with the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and was hopeful. He said the Chief Minister should not forget that the UPA government had empowered the people through the Right to Information Act and he just could not suppress any information.
“It has become a habit with Mr Badal who otherwise is the most senior leader in the state to mislead the people and resort to the Machiavellian tactics of untruths. In this case too, he is blatantly misleading the people despite the fact that portions of the letter have appeared in the press. He must release the letter to reassure the people that the package has not been denied as denial cannot be relied upon”, he added.
Mr Bajwa demanded that in the context of the disclosures made by Mr Jaitley in the letter that the Punjab government had been receiving excess funds during the UPA regime, the state government must come out with the fact sheet pertaining to the last ten years about the state of finances with each and every detail. This fact sheet should contain year wise amount of the central funds received by the state, along with the schemes in case of tied funds, the amount spent from the same by the state government and for what purpose. The state government must also disclose at to what amount of finances the state government had sought from the centre every year.
The PPCC chief urged the Chief Minister to also clear the mist about the special term loan extended to the state government during the fight against terrorism. He reminded Mr Badal that he had organised a special function at Jalandhar to thank the centre when the loan waiver was announced. Even while paying tributes to the former Prime Minister Mr Inder Kumar Gujral after his death, Mr Badal had especially referred to the loan waiver as his biggest contribution to his home state.
“Now both Mr Badal and the Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal blame this loan for all ills of the state without mentioning as to how many installments had been waived by the centre and in case there were arrears, what is the reason for the same. Moreover, this was not such a big amount as compared to the total debt of more than Rs. One lakh crore at present”, he said.
