Oppn parties slam govt's move on PlanCom

Opposition parties have come down heavily on the government's proposal to do away with the Planning Commission and replace it with another body. While the Congress has described the move as "half-baked" and "arbitrary", Left parties and the Trinamool Congress have questioned the haste to dismantle the body without having any consultations.

The Congress and Left parties attacked the government for not consulting chief ministers before taking such a decision.

Anand Sharma Congress spokesperson and former Commerce minister said, "The prime minister should have taken on board the views of chief ministers before taking such a decision. It's a knee-jerk and half-baked decision."

Recalling how former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had advocated the need to restructure the Commission, Sharma said former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had even prepared a 15-page note on it. "There is a difference between restructuring and dismantling," he said.

The Communist Party of India or CPI(M)'s Politburo, in a statement, said, "Prime Minister Modi has announced that the Planning Commission would be wound up. This step has been publicly taken a day after the Parliament session ended, without any discussion in Parliament or consultation with political parties or other concerned entities."

"The role of the Planning Commission has already been curtailed in the last two decades under liberalisation. What Modi has done is to give it a final burial," it added.

The TMC also issued a statement from Kolkata, slamming the move. Senior TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay demanded to know why the decision was not announced in Parliament when it was in session but announced a day later from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Bandyopadhyay said the panel was a "bridge between the centre and states. State governments approach the Commission on various occasions and needs." The TMC would "raise the issue in the Winter Session of Parliament".

The Congress and Left parties attacked the government for not consulting chief ministers before taking such a decision. While the CPI(M) is of the view that "Planning Commission should be made an executive wing of the National Development Council so that it becomes a truly federal institution", the Congress accused the BJP of flagrantly violating federalism by taking a " unilateral decision".