Trashing BJP’s charge that the State Budget presented before the Assembly by the State finance minister Indira Hridayesh on Friday was impractical and directionless, Chief Minister Harish Rawat's media in-charge Surendra Kumar said on Saturday that the growth-oriented Budget epitomises the CM’s all-encompassing developmental vision.
“In tune with the stress that the CM lays on simultaneous growth of myriad sectors, the Budget has given boost to agriculture, women empowerment, rural development and the like. It has taken adequate care of the poor, sugarcane growers and many others while stressing on the wellbeing of the livestock which sustains a major section of the rural populace,” he said.
Hailing the Budget as a bulwark to arrest migration, Kumar said that its focus was on employment generation. “The State Government has pledged through the Governor's keynote that 30,000 persons would be recruited in government job sector through subordinate service selection Board (SSSB) and Public Service Commission (PSC),” he said.
lashing out at the BJP and the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Bhatt, he said the saffron party had failed to spell out an alternative model of development. “We would continue to develop the State regardless of what BJP says,” he affirmed.
He asked the State BJP president to strive to rid the party of the unwholesome elements instead of firing ineffectual salvos against the Congress. “A saffron leader from Tanakpur has been cooling his heels in a jail on rape charges while there is another who was responsible for the theft that occurred at the State BJP headquarters. The saffron party should cleanse itself first,” Kumar said.
Charging BJP with apathy regarding development during its tenure, he said the party is not serious against corruption either. “Bungling with Polyhouse scam is an instance. The leader involved in the scam was taken into the party, giving him great honour. He is now an important leader of the saffron party,” he said.
Kumar stressed that the Centre mentioning Uttarkahand as a fast developing State in its economic analysis negates the State BJP’s charges. In another survey, Uttarkhand has been shown as a less corrupt State, he said, adding that the ascending per capita income and State GDP have buttressed their claim of the State being a fast growing economy.