Facing criticism after Raipur failed to make a cut in the first list of 20 smart cities announced this week by the Central Government, Congress leader and Raipur mayor Pramod Dubey tried to shift blame on Chhattisgarh’s BJP Government and said on Saturday that “as 75 per cent works pertaining to smart city race was undertaken by the State Government’s agencies then why only Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Mayor are being questioned for the failure.”

“Exclusion of Raipur’s name from the first list of Smart City, could be a political conspiracy, I wonder why not a single city from Chhattisgarh made to the Smart City list though neighbouring Madhya Pradesh’s three cities found space in the list which also indicates the clout which Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds,’’ Dubey told newspersons in a bid to hit out at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

“While Raipur failed to make it to first list of Smart City, a group of BJP workers stormed into my office and staged demonstration,’’ said Dubey, adding that if Raipur Mayor is really responsible for Raipur’s expulsion then BJP workers should protest against their own party mayor from Bilaspur city as it also failed to make cut in the first list.

“Possibly, the Smart City list was manipulated and the cities of only those States which Governments have better  relationship with the Central Government, found slot in the list,’’ the Raipur Mayor opined.

He advised the State Government and BJP

cadres saying, “instead of

scoring political mileage, the State Government should carry out a self-introspection about its failure,’’.

He hoped that Raipur would definitely manage to register its place in second

list if the State Government now collects a detailed

information about the selection and disqualification criteria to decide its future course of action.