Dehradun: Taking exception to his government
"not being involved" in the ceremony to mark the start of
Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail project, Uttarakhand Chief Minister
B C Khanduri on Wednesday said development programmes should not be
politicised as it affects Centre-state relations.
Sonia Gandhi was scheduled to lay the foundation stone of
the Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail project in Gauchar in the hilly
district of Chamoli but cancelled her visit due to fever.
"I talked to the Prime Minister expressing my resentment
for not involving Uttarakhand government in the Guachar
ceremony," Khanduri told reporters.
In the absence of Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony and
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi laid the foundation stone of
the 125 km-long rail line project near the Gauchar airstrip.
Khanduri said such development programmes "should not be
allowed to be politicised" and told the Prime Minister
that "it would badly affect the centre-state relations".
The Chief Minister said he did not believe in taking false
credit for any development scheme and asserted that he had too
raised the issue related to rail project several times when he
was member of the Lok Sabha in 1990s.
"Our colleague Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (former Chief
Minister) also made lot of efforts for early sanction of the
project as chairman of petition committee of Parliament," the
BJP leader said.
The Chief Minister also took a dig on Congress saying a
similar ceremony related to the Karanprayag project was
performed in 1997 at Rishikesh. "After spending thosands of
rupees, the project did not take off," Khanduri said.
"I strongly believe that such functions should be
organised only when some concrete work plan is ready,"
Khanduri said.
PTI
