Vadodara, Jun 10: Gujarat Congress came down heavily on the state Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying that while he supported the Lokpal bill at national level, appointment of Lokayukta is yet to be made in the state.
Talking to media here today, former Gujarat Congress president Siddharth Patel said, "It is surprising that while Modi supports the Lokpal bill movement at national level, back home, Lokayukta is yet to be appointed in Gujarat since the past 10 years."
"Modi is yet to appoint the Lokayukta in the state as he feared that it would expose corruption in his own government, that is estimated to the tune of Rs one lakh crore.
"If he is so keen on eliminating corruption, then what is preventing Modi from appointing Lokayukta? Why does Modi not ask his council of ministers to put up the details of their movable and immovable assets on website?" Patel asked.
He accused the Modi-led BJP government of serving the interests of only 33 big corporate houses, including Reliance, Adani, Tata, L&T, Essar and others, "who are holding 25 per cent of total land of Gujarat and do not bother about farmers or common man in the state," he added.
"If it is not stopped, the corporate houses will soon control the entire economy and the administration of the state, and common man will be left to their mercy," he said.
Patel pointed out that despite BJP government's announcement of electricity connections to one lakh state farmers a few days ago, not a single farmer had received a connection so far.
Patel said that over 7500 farmers in Vadodara district had dug up wells own their own, at a total cost of Rs 175 crore, to get power connection, even though none of them had got it so far.
"Gujarat is a power surplus state, but 6 lakh farmers, who applied for power connections in 1993, are yet to get it, even though corporate houses get it within 24 hours," he alleged.
Patel also said that Modi's government was not providing forest land to tribals and 100 sq yard land to the landless rural families. "If the government fails to come out with a time-bound programme on these issues, we will launch an aggressive agitation," he said.
"In Gujarat, the Value Added Tax (VAT) is charged on chemical fertilisers, which makes them costlier by Rs 15 per bag and with 24 per cent VAT, diesel is costlier by Rs 2.50 per litre as compared to the neighbouring Rajasthan," he said.
Talking about the eight-day farmers' rights agitation across the state launched by the Congress from June 4, Patel said, "We want to cover all the 225 talukas across the state as a part of this agitation." PTI
