Ex-Cong leader Jogi praises Modi govt over surgical strike

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi today praised the BJP-led Centre over surgical strikes by the Indian Army in PoK.

"The surgical strikes carried out on the launch pads of terror outfits across the border was certainly a good initiative during the two-and-half-years under the BJP-led government at the Centre so far," Jogi told reporters here.

However, the former Congress leader, who had left the party and formed Chhattisgarh Janata Congress, was also critical of the Modi government for its "failure" in keeping electoral promises like bringing back black money.

"Modi government has failed to deliver on the promises like depositing Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of each Indian by bringing the black money stashed abroad within 100 days of coming to power," said Jogi.
 

"Given the way it is functioning, the NDA dispensation will lose power in Maharashtra and Haryana in next Assembly polls," he added.

Jogi was in city to speak about creation of smaller states at a seminar and claimed that the Congress had always been hostile to the idea.

"Unfortunately, the Congress was never in favour of smaller states due to various reasons and despite a couple of committee reports suggesting creation of Vidarbha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, the Congress kept mum on the issue," he said.

Jogi, who became the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh in the year 2000, claimed that he "always fought for creation of new states at the Congress Working Committee (CWC), but faced opposition from others".

He said he would "whole heartedly" jump into the agitation for separating Vidarbha from Maharashtra, which will go to polls in 2019.

Jogi claimed the development of Chhattisgarh was "stagnated" under Chief Minister Raman Singh despite the state boasting of a huge potential.

"Despite a whopping jump in state budget for Chhattisgarh from Rs 4000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore, there is no visible development," he said.

"Chhattisgarh has the precious deposits of diamond, gold, finest iron ore but the state has not been exploited to the fullest capacity to enhance revenue," he added.