Accusing Punjab Congress leaders of misleading people of the State, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh on Thursday claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Government has “got much more funds from the Modi Government as compared to the funds it got from the UPA Government”.
Chugh, putting forth “facts and figures to counter Congress’ malicious propaganda”, said that the opposition leaders bereft of any agenda were stooping low to target Modi Government without any facts. Terming Congress’ propaganda as “ridiculous”, Chugh castigated its leaders for “sensationalising” each and every issue that came their way.
“Congress-led UPA Government, in 2014-15, had earmarked Rs3.38 lakh crores for Punjab while the 10-month old Modi Government has raised the amount to almost double taking it to Rs5.24 lakh crore which is Rs1.86 lakh crore more than the previous year. This is because the Prime Minister believes in federal structure and wants to strengthen it further,” he said. He claimed that Punjab got Rs6183 crore as its share of taxes and grants in 2014-15 while the Modi Government has raised the amount to Punjab by Rs2,767 crores in 2015-16 taking the total to Rs8,950 crore.
“Under the UPA Government, in 13th five year plan (2010-15), Rs19,800 crore were earmarked for Punjab while in 14th five year plan, Modi Government has raised the funding to Punjab to Rs61,400 crore which means a raise of Rs41,600 crore,” pointed Chugh. He added, “This comes to an unprecedented and phenomenal increase of 210 percent…Punjab, in the next five years, is all set to get Rs6,543 crore for development of villages, cities and towns.”