Prices of essential commodities rose whenever the Centre had a Congress-led government, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar alleged on Monday .
"Prices of essential commodities soar whenever there is a Congress government at the Centre and an attempt is made to undermine the federal structure of the country," Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of his Janata Darbar in Patna.
The Congress, he said, had a tendency to attack the federal structure when his attention was drawn to the Centre bringing the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill.
It was the responsibility of all to prevent riots, Kumar said. He also alleged that in recent times it was being noticed that whenever there was a problem, the blame was shifted on the states and the Centre took credit for the good work of states. Referring to AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's statement during election meetings in Jharkhand that the Centre would open its coffer for the development of the state if Congress was voted to power, he said it was a 'very dangerous trend'.
Kumar said it was decided long ago that Centrally sponsored schemes would be reduced, but the Centre was acting contrary to the decision and thrusting central schemes on the states affecting state sponsored ones.
He also alleged that the states share in Central taxes was declining. While states should get 29.5 per cent as their share in central taxes, the actual share transferred to the states never increased beyond 25 per cent.
Kumar said that the state government was in favour setting up more courts for speedy trial of corruption cases and had requested the Chief Justice of India to sanction setting up of more courts to deal with corruption and other cases.
Speaking about attack on migrant labourers in Punjab, the chief minister reiterated that the state government was closely monitoring the situation. He said two officials of labour department had been despatched to Punjab to make an indepth study and submit a report to the government. PTI
