UPA govt accused of disturbing federal setup
Taking the political battle to the internal security conference, the non-Congress chief ministers and UPA ally Trinamul Congress on Monday came together to accuse the UPA government of not consulting states on key security issues and encroaching on state powers disturbing the “federal” set-up in the country.
While Trinamul chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the conference, leading the charge against the Centre was Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, who did not mince words, accusing the Central government of bringing the states down to the level of “glorified municipal corporations” by restricting their operational magnitude, tightening finances and encroaching upon states’ powers. Joining her were center ministers of other non-Congress ruled states, including BJP ruled Gujarat center minister Narendra Modi, Bihar center minister Nitish Kumar, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik among half a dozen other CMs who criticised the “unilateral” decisions being taken by the government.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P. Chidambaram, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon were present at the conference.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the Centre has scant regard for constitutionally elected state governments and is making “continuous veiled attempts” to weaken the states which is detrimental to the national interest. Ms Jayalalithaa strongly resented the fact that the Tamil Nadu government was not kept in the loop about the joint naval exercise off the Tamil Nadu coast with the United States nuclear powered warships.
While the principal opposition from the states has been on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Monday’s conference took a new turn with the chief ministers raising “federal” concerns over other issues as well.
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