MILES TO GO FOR SMILES
A STATE OF UNEASE The PM and the CM’s verbal exchange on Friday, plus the blame game triggered by union power minister’s no-show at a meeting in Lucknow open the possibility of an escalated turf war between the BJP and the SP that lead governments at the
LUCKNOW: A war of words was witnessed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday over non-allocation of the desired land for a union textile ministry project in Varanasi.
In fact, many contentious issues remain unresolved between various ministries of the Centre and the state government’s departments. The leadership of the two ruling parties – the BJP at the Centre and the Samajwadi Party in the state — may use them as the perfect ammunition to fire their salvos in the coming days.
So, the verbal duel may turn out to be the beginning of an escalated turf war on the political horizon of Uttar Pradesh.
Also, union power minister Piyush Goyal’s cancellation of his visit to Lucknow to discuss power issues with the chief minister has triggered a fresh blame game with the Samajwadi Party national spokesperson saying the Centre was non-serious about the development of Uttar Pradesh.
“The central power minister does not turn up for the meeting with UP government – Is Centre serious about UP’s development,” said Gaurav Bhatia in a twitter post on Saturday.
Though a verbal duel was already being witnessed between the chief minister and Goyal over power issues in the recent months, the relationship between the top political executive, the ministries and departments had been generally smooth.
Take the case of land allocation that the Prime Minister referred to in his address in Varanasi on Friday. The union government in its annual budget for 2014-2015 had announced that a trade facilitation centre and crafts museum would be set up in Varanasi. The union ministry of textiles had requested the state government to hand over the land identified at Chowkaghat in Varanasi. The union textile minister had taken up the issue with the chief secretary through a letter and he was requested to transfer the identified land along with the Sanskritik Sankul Complex at the earliest to enable the union government to start the work. The ministry had sent other letters too.
The state government, however, has contended that the land demanded by the union textiles ministry had been reserved for some other project. The state government has now sought to make the point that the allocation of another piece of land could have been considered for the same.
This is not an isolated case. It figured on top of the list of 70 to 100 issues needing immediate attention for an early solution. “The allocation of central funds too has been a contentious issue between the centre and the state government over the years. Yet, barring the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), where allocations have come down from Rs 729 crore to Rs 476 crore, the central allocations for other centrally sponsored schemes this year (2014-2015) have been on a par or more than the previous year (2013-2014),” said a senior officer.
The chief minister too has been frequently writing letters to the Prime Minister and a number of union ministers to expedite action. He has decided to take up the issues at the top political level of the union government after the state government’s letters failed to make any impact.
“The chief minister has been writing letters, making demands or expressing displeasure or disagreeing with the centre’s policies.
This, however, has not strained the relationship and the state government hopes of an appropriate action and an early solution to the issues following his intervention,” said another officer, adding, “An era of a fresh air of bonhomie and smooth relationship between the Centre and the state government had begun after the installation of the Akhilesh Yadav government on March 15, 2012.”