New Delhi, June 27: Congress today hit out at the BJP-led coalition for "deliberately discriminating" against party chief ministers in the matter of permission for foreign visits and bluntly told the Centre that it "cannot get away by heaping insults on state governments". "This is ridiculous.....unpardonable state of affairs. This was never misused earlier", party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters noting the "brazenly partisan manner" in which the Centre was acting on the issue. He said the party could no longer ignore the matter and would even raise it in parliament.

Stating that the Madhya Pradesh chief minister was denied permission for a foreign visit, he said there has been "inordinate delay" in granting permission to the Rajasthan chief minister who has applied long back.

"This is all wanton abuse of federal power and .....blow to delicate balance of power between the Centre and the states. It is an affront to the high office of chief minister. We are enraged by the fact that Congress chief ministers are being deliberately discriminated against", he said,

As against this, he said UP Chief Minister Mayawati's trip to US in which she visited Disneyland was cleared by the Centre. He said Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani visited US and UK during which few officials had gone along with their wives.

He said only the Prime Minister's intervention helped Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to get the central nod for his foreign tour.

Bureau Report