Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday alleged that successive Congress Governments at the Centre had pursued the policy of “excessive centralisation” of power due to which States have suffered. Badal, interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of the Sangat Darshan programme of lambi Assembly segment in Muktsar district, said: “Despite its enormous contribution in making the country self-reliant in food production, Punjab has always remained on the receiving end during the tenure of successive Congress Governments at the Centre.”
Coming down heavily on the Opposition for “blaming” the ruling SAD-BJP alliance for transfer of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers from the State, the veteran Akali leader said that it was on record that this decision has been taken by the Union Government on administrative grounds. He said that “for the sake of scoring brownie points in the media, the opposition parties are flaring up this issue out of proportion”.
Rubbishing the reports of urea shortage in the state, Badal categorically said that the state had received far more supplies of urea as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Badal said that there was hardly any scarcity of urea and regular monitoring was being done by the state agriculture department to ensure that farmers do not face any difficulty in this regard. Expressing satisfaction over the recently-concluded NRI Sangat Darshans, Badal said that its sole aim was to mitigate the woes of Punjabi diaspora settled abroad rather than drawing huge crowds. “Sangat Darshan had been very successful exercise as it has helped the state government to ensure prompt redressal of the public complaints,” he said.