Batala: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday tried to allay the apprehension of Congress about the revival of terrorism in the state, saying the government was alert to thwart any such attempt which can derail the developmental process in the state.
"The Congress leaders were making a false hue and cry over the issue (revival of terrorism) because of their chronic habit of raising the bogey of terrorism when out of power," Badal told reporters here.
Punjab unit of Congress had apprehended that with the construction of memorial in the premises of Golden temple in the memory of those killed during Operation Blue Star, the peaceful atmosphere of the state can be vitiated.
The state government was alert to curb the nefarious designs of anti-Punjab forces, who want to derail the developmental process in the state.
Lashing out at the Congress, the chief minister said the Union Government was discriminating against the states ruled by the non-Congress parties and not issuing the requisite developmental grants to them.
He said it was a paradoxical situation in which the Congress ruled states were getting more money whereas those ruled by the non-Congress parties were virtually "getting nothing".
Badal also alleged that the Union ministers of the UPA government were also acting autocratically by diverting the projects and funds of their respective departments towards their native states due to which lopsided development was taking place in the country.
He said that Punjab was the worst sufferer of such discriminatory policies of the Union government as the state was hardly getting any grant from the Centre.
However, Badal said that if at all the Union government
issues any grant to the state then "such riders are imposed on it which makes its utilisation impossible".
"It was a known fact that the successive Congress-led governments at the Centre had always meted out step motherly treatment to the Punjab due to which the economy of the state has suffered a major setback thereby resulting in its retarded development," the senior Akali leader said.
Reiterating that the state government was making all out efforts to develop every nook and corner of the state, the chief minister said no discrimination was being done with any part of the state while allocating the funds for development.
PTI
