BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Wednesday got into a war of words with the Opposition BJP over alleged non-cooperation of the State government with Union ministers visiting the aspirational districts.
After Union Minister of State Sanjeev Balyan expressed his displeasure over the absence of Koraput Collector and local MLA in the review meeting there on Tuesday, BJD Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik on Wednesday said the visit of the ministers to aspirational districts has nothing to do with development as the motive is political. “The Centre is not providing any special assistance to the aspirational districts of the State. It has been constantly ignoring our demand for more funds over and above the normal assistance,” Patnaik said in a tweet.
He further said the State government has been demanding revision of funds sharing between the Centre and State for all Centrally-sponsored programmes from the existing 60:40 to 90:10 in view of the special economic needs of Odisha. “If the Centre is really concerned about rapid transformation of the aspirational districts of the State, it should immediately change the funding pattern to 90:10 for these districts,” he added.
In response to the BJD MP, State BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said the Centre is providing adequate funds for the aspirational districts but the State government has not been able to utilise them in time. “Patnaik’s attribution of political motive to the visit of Union Ministers is not with the spirit of true federalism. The State and the Centre have the joint responsibility to remove regional imbalance through focused attention to backward districts. What is wrong in an Union Minister taking a review of the schematic progress and fund utilisation in identified areas,” Mohaptra wondered.
The BJP leader said that the visit of the ministers to the 10 aspirational districts has not gone well with the State government because the latter’s progress card is not up to mark. The BJD has become defensive as the BJP has been exposing the government’s misdeeds and mismanagement in the implementation of all welfare schemes.
The acrimony of the two parties was in full display in the monsoon session of the Parliament where BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi and BJD MP Pinaki Mishra were engaged in a verbal duel over the Srimandir Parikrama Project at Puri. Besides, national BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had put the BJD on the spot for not inviting the Union Health Minister to the inauguration of Shri Jagannath Medical College and Hospital at Puri recently.