Senior BJP leader pooh-poohs State Govt’s mindset on development
Former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha lost his cool on Tuesday on the issue of who will become the next CM of Jharkhand while speaking at a programme organized for discussing State’s expectations from the forthcoming Union Budget.
Sinha disdainfully rubbished questions about his aspirations of becoming Chief Minister of the State and said, “It does not matter if a……. (unprintable slang) becomes a CM. The priority is the development of the State and making roadmap for the same.”
Many called it a slip of tongue, others criticised the use of a slang at a public platform but Yashwant appeared to be at ease venting his ire on the issue of leadership in the State being discussed in the BJP and outside ever since he became active in the State after vacating Hazaribagh seat for his son, Jayant Sinha and went to jail following a protest against poor electricity supply in the State.
The leader also derided Government for poor development of State and accused financial mismanagement for taking the State on the path of budgetary deficit from a State with surplus budget.
Sinha was on Tuesday speaking at programme called by Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce & Industries. The programme was attended by FJCCI president Bikash Kumar Singh, Mayor Asha lakra, Deputy Mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya and office bearers of the federation. The programme, ‘Jharkhand’s Expectations from Forthcoming Union Budget’, was called for discussing budgetary provisions to improve economic and social conditions of the State. In his address Sinha questioned the Government’s seriousness on as important matter as budget.
“State’s Finance Minister probably sent Finance Secretary to a pre-budget meeting organised for States. Can a Finance Secretary’s voice get the same weightage as that of a MinisterIJ We lost a golden opportunity to put our views,” said Sinha.
The former Finance Minister also draw attention towards proposals given in the past of reducing the number of centrally sponsored schemes to 10 and advocated 100 per cent financing of remaining schemes besides strict central monitoring of projects implemented in the State. Sinha suggested that central government’s intervention could be the panacea of all ills for a State like Jharkhand. He however expressed inability to bring changes in the budget along the expectations of the people of the State.
“We are a bit late in organising this discussion nevertheless it can be used for the next budget after this. This year’s budget is already gone into printing stage,” maintained the BJP leader.The BJP stalwart however indicated towards better irrigation projects for Jharkhand that is likely to get mention in the forthcoming Union Budget.
Earlier, Economist Harishwar Dayal suggested changes imperative for putting the State back on the track of development. Dayal advocated stringent measures to prevent downslide of the economy and revision of royalty distribution in addition to granting a share of the funds generated through spectrum allocation.“If revision cannot be done then there must be a provision of awarding compensation (to a state),” asserted Dayal.