"If you ask me honestly, I have been saying this since 1982 that the money from Delhi does not reach the people here. I was not in politics then but I have been saying this and this is the reason that people here feel that they have not been given their due," Babbar told reporters here.
"When UPA understood this, they started a policy 'your money into your hands'. The sole aim to start this policy was that the common man should get what was his right. Now, did people actually benefit or not, but there is no evil in Congress' intentions," he said.
Babbar was quickly cut short by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Soz, who said the Prime Minister was resorting to "propaganda" and such a "falsehood" was not "acceptable" to the people.
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Soz said though he was "not happy" with the state government, where his party is in a coalition with the National Conference (NC), he cannot blame the entire government for usurping central funds.
"I was not happy with this outgoing government because governance was one of the poorest for various reasons. Things may have gone wrong...But I cannot blame the entire government for having usurped central funding," he said.
At a rally in Udhampur, in Jammu region, yesterday, the Prime Minister said the Centre had pumped so much money for the development of the state that if it was distributed and directly deposited into the bank accounts of the residents here "you people would have been the richest people in the country. But, you people never got anything.