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Sonia to meet PM today
New Delhi Aug 05: Sonia Gandhi will lead a delegation of six Congress chief ministers of drought-affected states to PM Vajpayee today to submit a memorandum. The delegation will urge the PM to send a Central team to assess the drought situation in their states.
New Delhi Aug 05: Sonia Gandhi will lead a delegation of six Congress chief ministers of drought-affected states to PM Vajpayee today to submit a memorandum. The delegation will urge the PM to send a Central team to assess the drought situation in their states.
The chief ministers alleged to Sonia yesterday in a meeting that Centre was giving a step-motherly treatment to them. Centre in providing financial assistance to tackle the natural calamity in their states and demanded nearly Rs 12,000 crore as immediate relief.
he charge was made by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who said, "four central teams have visited Maharashtra since the last one year but, we have not received any assistance. That is why, we have met under the leadership of Gandhi and would request the Centre to sympathetically consider our demand".
He cautioned that if the "step-motherly" treatment continued the state would witness a serious situation.
Ambika Soni, political secretary to the Congress president avoided a direct reply to a query whether the Centre was providing adequate attention to congress ruled states in the matter of drought relief. She however, emphasised that states like Andhra Pradesh and Haryana ruled by BJP allies were being looked after more by the Centre. Krishna wanted the Prime Minister to ask his ministers to visit the drought hit states for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation to help the Centre adopt a realistic approach about facing the calamity.
His Rajasthan counterpart, Ashok Gehlot said the prime Minister should visit some states. Recalling that Rajasthan alone was given Rs 700 crore in the 80`s by Rajiv Gandhi to tackle drought situation, he said this was not the time to play politics.
While Rajasthan has so far sought Rs 6115 crore central assistance, Chhattisgarh has demanded Rs 2180 crore, Maharashtra Rs 2100 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 698 crore and Delhi Rs 30 crore.
Though Punjab chief minister Amrinder Singh was not present at the meeting with Gandhi, he has already briefed her about the scarcity conditions and the state`s demands would be incorporated in the memorandum to the Prime Minister, Soni said.
The chief ministers said that unless the Centre rescued the states in a big way, they would face problems in dealing with the situation.
Bureau Report
Ambika Soni, political secretary to the Congress president avoided a direct reply to a query whether the Centre was providing adequate attention to congress ruled states in the matter of drought relief. She however, emphasised that states like Andhra Pradesh and Haryana ruled by BJP allies were being looked after more by the Centre. Krishna wanted the Prime Minister to ask his ministers to visit the drought hit states for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation to help the Centre adopt a realistic approach about facing the calamity.
His Rajasthan counterpart, Ashok Gehlot said the prime Minister should visit some states. Recalling that Rajasthan alone was given Rs 700 crore in the 80`s by Rajiv Gandhi to tackle drought situation, he said this was not the time to play politics.
While Rajasthan has so far sought Rs 6115 crore central assistance, Chhattisgarh has demanded Rs 2180 crore, Maharashtra Rs 2100 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 698 crore and Delhi Rs 30 crore.
Though Punjab chief minister Amrinder Singh was not present at the meeting with Gandhi, he has already briefed her about the scarcity conditions and the state`s demands would be incorporated in the memorandum to the Prime Minister, Soni said.
The chief ministers said that unless the Centre rescued the states in a big way, they would face problems in dealing with the situation.
Bureau Report