By IANS,
Patna : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) central government of conducting “systematic manoeuvres to destabilize and derail” non-Congress or non-UPA state governments and especially targeting popular BJP chief ministers like Narendra Modi of Gujarat.
“Unnerved by the success of BJP and NDA (National Democratic Alliance) governments in implementing pro-poor economic programmes, their proven ability to set new benchmarks in inclusive development and establish transparent systems of governance, the central government has launched a vicious and vindictive campaign against our state governments,” the BJP’s resolution on the “Centre’s assault on the federal structure of the Indian union” adopted at the two-day party national executive here said.
The BJP said the centre was also “misusing its captive agencies to mount political offensive” against democratically elected non-Congress state governments.
It said that Gujarat has been constantly targeted by the UPA government which has been “conspiring to frame the chief minister for eight long years although without any success”. “Unsubstantiated and patently false charges continue to be bandied about against the chief minister and other BJP leaders,” it said.
BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy at a press meet said Gujarat is not the only state that has come in for such “politically motivated actions that violate the constitution federal framework. Each and every NDA ruled state has suffered grievously at the centre’s hands”.
“All other BJP ruled states have faced brazen discrimination by the Centre on one issue or the other,” Rudy said.
The BJP resolution said the UPA government has repeatedly refused permission to enact the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) legislation, a tough anti-terror law that has been twice passed by the state assembly. In case of BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, the centre has been periodically reducing foodgrain allocation to the state from the central pool, forcing the state government to buy foodgrain from the open market to ensure that the poor do not go hungry.
The BJP said that in the matter of providing relief to states affected by natural calamities, “the centre’s heart seems to bleed only for Congress ruled states”. It said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has repeatedly complained that central relief for Kosi flood victims was not only paltry but also delayed.
BJP-ruled “Karnataka too has been at the receiving end of the centre’s discriminatory policies”, it said.
The party charged that the UPA government announced implementation of the Right to Education Act “all of a sudden and without proper consultation with non-UPA chief ministers”.
“The systematic harassment of non-Congress state governments reflects the Congress party’s anti-federal mindset,” the party said.
The BJP warned the UPA government to desist from these “subversive and underhand activities against elected non-Congress governments”.