UPA Destabilising BJP Govts In States, Says Advani

New Delhi, May 11: BJP Parliamentary Party Chief L K Advani on Tuesday charged the UPA regime with trying to destabilise his party's governments in states and made a special mention of Gujarat, where Narendra Modi is Chief Minister.

"In a planned manner, the Centre is unleashing an assault on the federal structure of the country. It is seeking to destabilise governments by rank abuse of CBI. Most prominent case is that of Gujarat," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, quoting Advani.

Advani made this accusation in his valedictory address at the two-day conclave of BJP and NDA chief ministers here.

The senior BJP leader has praised Modi often on his blog and in his speeches and hailed his style of governance which is focused on development and industrialisation.

Advani said all BJP-ruled states will fight this discrimination and "step-motherly" treatment by the Centre.

Modi was the most prominent face among the seven chief ministers who attended the conclave here.

He even made a presentation at the meet on how Gujarat had ushered in transparency and accountability in governance through use of Information Technology.

"Modi informed us that in Gujarat all check-posts have been computerised and all trucks going from the state to Maharashtra are accounted for. The Sales Tax collection has been computerised and it has helped the state earn an additional profit of Rs 700 crore," Prasad said.

The chief minister also talked about Computer Visibility Boards in every district which are linked to villages, thus helping people get information about weather and rates of agricultural products.

Advani asked the BJP chief ministers to aim at improving probity and security in their states and wanted shortcomings to be plugged.

"He called for a special emphasis on education, health and Antyodaya," Prasad said.

The chief ministers also adopted a unanimous resolution pledging to work for good governance with focus on rule of law, transparency and accountability.

The resolution also focused on the "cancer of corruption" and how it should be tackled, and alleged that BJP-ruled states were being targeted.

"Never before in the past, had the government at the centre faced such a grave crisis of credibility arising out of innumerable scandals involving people in the ruling establishment in such a large number.

"Against this backdrop, systematic efforts are being made to paint all political parties with the same brush," it said.

While resolving to resist all such attempts, the BJP leaders also said they would fight against misuse of central agencies which are being used to harass and intimidate opposition-ruled states.

A look at the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-state relations and the role of Governors was also felt. The Chief Ministers complained that governors in their states were acting as political agents and scuttling legislations by not giving assent to passed bills.

The chief ministers resolved to explore possibilities of reducing the element of discretion in the disbursal of benefits, an issue which had landed Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in trouble when he was charged with corruption for giving land to his sons.

More transparency in governance through E-tendering and E-procurement were also underlined in the resolution.

A mechanism should also be set for punishing corrupt employees and elected representatives administratively and legally, the resolution said. PTI