Centre’s Bihar package angers SAD
Saturday, 20/04/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130420/punjab.htm#4
Chandigarh : Reacting to the special Rs 12,000 crore package sanctioned to Bihar, a Shiromani Akali Dal spokesman said the Congress-led UPA Government was playing a dangerous game of buying political support through the national treasury.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had yesterday sanctioned a special package for the JD-U led Bihar Government. With differences between the BJP and the JD-U on the possibility of naming Narendra Modi as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate growing, the Congress was trying to fish in troubled waters. "There is a vested interest behind this package to Bihar," said SAD spokesman Daljeet Singh Cheema.
He said Punjab, which had been pressing for a package for long, had been denied the same. "The state's case for a debt waiver had been deliberately referred to the 14th Finance Commission to keep the matter pending for more years," he alleged. He accused the Centre of discriminating against Punjab.
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said Punjab's political leadership should lobby hard, like the Bihar leaders, to secure a debt waiver for the state. " Without lobbying in the right earnest, nothing is possible. There is a need to sit across the table with the Union Government to seek a debt waiver," he said.
Punjab's debt burden would cross Rs 1,00,000 crore this year. The state's interest liability would be about Rs 7,300 crore this year. "The only way to put the state back on the development path is to get its debt burden off," Manpreet added.
