New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states Saturday criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on price rise as they also raised demands concerning their states at the National Development Council meeting here.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said high inflation poses threat to the country’s development and could derail the growth process, if not tackled effectively.
‘The overwhelming response to the recent Bharat Bandh is a reflection of the agony of millions of people. There is a lack of vision and strategy to tackle rising prices which reflects lack of good governance and political will,’ he said.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting that prices of essential commodities had increased under the UPA government and the hike in prices of petroleum products had put further pressure on people.
He said the central government was not fulfilling demands of states for foodgrains.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on the sidelines of the meeting that the central government had failed to check prices despite repeated promises.
Referring to government’s assessment that the rate of inflation in food prices will abate in the second half of the year if monsoon was normal, Chouhan said such hopes had been belied in the past.
Both Chouhan and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that some government ministers had left the meeting in between. ‘It is unfortunate that the ministers left such an important meeting,’ Chouhan told reporters.
Official sources said that Modi also made a veiled reference to his party’s allegation of misuse of Central Bureau of Investigation in his speech. He said that if CBI did not have enough work on its hands, it should be asked to investigate allegations of corruption in implementation of the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Modi also said that the Congress was speaking in different voices in fighting the Maoist threat and the government’s resolve to fight the problem was being weakened by its own leaders.
The chief ministers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh asked the central government to extend excise concessions to their states till 2013, saying the concessions were originally meant till at least 2013. Chouhan said that thermal power plants in Madhya Pradesh should be allowed to take coal from its own mines.
