Ignoring the continuing acrimony between the Samajwadi Party and the UPA government since the past few days, Union finance minister P. Chidambaram virtually held out the olive branch on Friday when he assured chief minister Akhilesh Yadav that the UPA government will stand by Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development.
The minister said that there will be no discrimination between states and the less developed states will get more attention. He also promised to look into the projects for which UP had sought Central assistance.
“I want to assure you and ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and the people of Uttar Pradesh that we are committed to helping UP and other states and we will support you and stand by you on issues related to development,” Mr Chidambaram said while sharing the stage with Mr Akhilesh Yadav at a function held here to inaugurate 300 bank branches in the state.
Mr Chidambaram simply ignored the threats and barbs thrown at the UPA by the Samajwadi leaders earlier this week and neither did Mr Akhilesh Yadav show any discomfort in the presence of the Union minister.
The two leaders, over breakfast, discussed the various proposal submitted by the state to the Centre and Mr Chidambaram said that he had assured the chief minister that he will look into each one of them.
“Some of them may not concern my department but the chief minister and I will meet again after a fortnight or so and sort them out,” he asserted.
Speaking at the function, the Union finance minister said that expanding the banking network, especially in the rural interiors, will help in the growth and development of the economic activity in the country.
“Never before in a single day, have we opened 300 bank branches at one go. Banks are crucial for development because you need to have accounts and get loans to expand your horizon. We plan to open 2,700 more bank branches in the coming one year and 10,000 to 12,000 bank branches in the whole country,” he said.
The minister announced that by March 2014, every bank branch in the country will have an ATM machine.
He asked the bankers to change their attitude in giving loans. “It is the right of every housewife, every student, every farmers and every entrepreneur to get a bank loan and this is not charity. I am happy to tell you that children are taking student loan for higher studies and 25 lakh students had taken loan worth `50,000 crores by December 2012,” he said.