Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Congress to shun politics of confrontation even as he locked horns with the UPA government advocating the scrapping of all centrally sponsored schemes.
Badal called for a nation-wide political initiative to recast the Constitution along federal lines, scrapping of all central schemes and making a provision for direct transfer of 50 per cent of central taxes to states.
Winding up the debate on the Governor's address in the Punjab Assembly amid boycott by opposition Congress, Badal impressed upon for an end to the politics of confrontation and starting of an era of political consensus for taking the state forward on the path to progress and getting its long pending demands settled.
The Chief Minister asked the Centre to desist from usurping the powers vested in states by the constitution of India under state's list.
He pleaded that the fixation of Agriculture inputs and MSP, upgradation of schools, allocation of funds under the National Rural/Urban Health Mission and allotment of link roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna should be solely left to the states so that they could prioritise these projects according to the felt needs of the people.
Calling for the scrapping of centrally sponsored schemes which were "arbitrarily based on the parameters suited to the Centre", the Chief Minister asked the Union government to transfer the funds directly to the states as Untied Funds and Direct Grants to enable them to formulate schemes.
He cited that the Centre retained 67.5 per cent of all the tax collected and merely 32.5 per cent was devolved to the states.
Badal vehemently said, "Shiromani Akali Dal is the maiden political party which raised the voice for a federal set up and devolution of funds to the states in the right earnest could be a step for achieving this goal."
The Chief Minister rued the grave "injustice" meted out to Punjab by the successive Congress governments at the Centre and said the refusal to transfer Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas to the state and denial of legitimate share of river waters in accordance with universally accepted Riparian Law were the testimony to it.
Demanding immediate transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab and early resolution of river waters, Badal said that Punjab could no longer be denied its justified right over these contentious inter-state territorial issues.
