Providing security to people is the prime responsibility of any State Government and in that task the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh has failed abysmally, testimony to which is the May 25 Jeeram carnage which wiped out entire State leadership of Congress, charged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
He further said, “Such a slack Government did not deserve coming back to power in a tribal dominated State like Chhattisgarh.’’
The BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh goes to polls in two phases on Nov 11 and Nov 19 to elect a new 90-member Assembly. The Congress is out of power in the state since Dec 2003.
Addressing a convention of Congress workers at the Budhapara Indoor Stadium here, Singh took Chhattisgarh’s BJP government to task for ‘misleading people on various central welfare schemes as well as its failure to use funds sanctioned for containing the insurgency’.
He also chided the BJP leaders for using foul language against leaders of other political parties blaming them of transgressing political decorum.
“Some leaders of BJP are using foul language against our leaders and CMs. This is just for cheap publicity.” the Prime Minister remarked. Counting the achievements of his Government, he said that the progress made by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government during the last nine years was unparalleled.
Paying tribute to party leaders and workers killed in the Jeeram Valley Maoist attack, the Prime Minister said, “Such attacks could neither deter us from our path of social service nor affect our morale.”
Rejecting Chhattisgarh Government’s claims regarding power generation and Public Distribution System (PDS), Singh said while drumming up the success of these schemes, what the BJP regime in the State failed to mention that 90 per cent fund to run these schemes comes from the Centre.
The PM criticised the Chhattisgarh Government for not doing anything towards stamping out Maoist insurgency despite huge assistance being given by the Centre. “Even after giving special package for the 14 Maoist-hit districts, development eluded people in tribal areas,’’ he alleged.