Centre discriminating non-Congress ruled states: LK Advani

Senior BJP leader LK Advani today accused the Centre of subverting the federal structure of the Constitution by discriminating against non-Congress ruled states.

"The UPA regime is busy subverting the federal structure of the Constitution. It has let loose investigating agencies which are supposed to be impartial on non-Congress state governments," he said here during his 'Jan Chetna Yatra' against corruption.

Alleging that the Congress-led UPA government's "arrogance of power" went beyond "brazen corruption happening right under the nose of the Prime Minister", Advani said, "It is trying to harass and torment our state governments and discriminating against them in financial matters in particular."

He held that protests by states at the National Development Council meeting last week in Delhi had caught the Prime Minister on the back foot. "Last week's meeting of the National Development Council, therefore, became a forum for leaders of non-Congress state governments to express their anger against such discrimination...Tamil Nadu's representative protested vigorously against the Centre's discriminatory policies," he said.

The BJP leader claimed that even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party is a UPA ally, had complained about the absence of consultation over sharing of the Teesta waters with Bangladesh. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh was unable to maintain national highways as the Road Transport Ministry had taken away the power of highway repair from state authorities, Advani said. State highways in various states were well maintained, while national highways were in pathetic shape as a result, he said. "I experienced this last evening while travelling from Bargarh to Sambalpur in Orissa."

Referring to Gujarat, Advani alleged that the Centre had tried its best to make the Narendra Modi government "dysfunctional".

"The case of Gujarat is too well known to bear repetition. The Centre has tried its best to make Narendra Modi government dysfunctional," he said. Advani said the BJP will not allow the Centre's "sinister design to subvert the federal structure of our Constitution".

"We are confident that other non-Congress governments will join us in this struggle," he said.