Non-BJP state not exercising accountability, wasting funds: Jitendra Singh

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday claimed non-BJP state governments are not exercising accountability and allowing pilferage and wastage of central funds.

Addressing a press conference here as part of campaigning for the by-poll, he said the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government has been accusing the Centre of holding back funds for the state.

However, the matter of fact is that the earlier grants obtained by the state government from the Centre were never utilised for the purpose for which they were meant, Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said.

"The central grants were used for their own priorities, and now for the release of further funds from the Centre when utilisation certificates (UCs) are being sought, they are unable to produce the same," he added.

Many of the central grants instead of being used for development projects are being used for self-publicity through advertisements in newspapers and other media, and for organising extravagant programmes for the publicity of the AAP leaders, the minister said.

Singh said non-BJP state governments are not exercising accountability, whereas in BJP-ruled states, there is absolute accountability and answerability to the central high command and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare schemes are seriously followed up and accounted for.

Drawing another parallel, he said in the non-BJP states, not only do they allow the pilferage and wastage of central funds, but the schemes are also not implemented seriously, and they do not hold themselves accountable.

The Union minister also expressed concern about growing lawlessness and state of anarchy in the state of Punjab, and vowed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is committed to restore the ethos of brotherhood, nationalism and mutual harmony among the people in the state.

Talking about the Delhi government, Singh said nothing can be more unfortunate than the fact with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ruling the city, nearly three or four ministers are behind bars facing CBI and ED charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

He said Modi had envisioned developing such an administrative ecosystem for a developed India, which has zero-tolerance for corruption, but the AAP-led government in the state of Punjab has been creating roadblocks towards creating such a corruption free ecosystem by delaying implementation of transformative reforms undertaken by the BJP-led central government.

He said it is in the interest of the people to benefit from the central funds which are very meticulously provided by the Modi government.

"The Modi government has always followed the policy of cooperative federalism and also increased the state government share of funds. This is quite in contrast to what was happening during the UPA-run central government where the Gujarat government led by the BJP was always put to all kinds of intimidation and harassment by the then UPA-led central government and false CBI cases were filed which later could not be proved," the minister added.