He accused the Centre of not treating states as equals and said development is possible only when states and the Centre move together as a team and there is cooperation between the Prime Minister and the chief ministers.
Attacking Congress for failing to control inflation, he said it promised to bring down inflation within 100 days of coming to power but could not do so even after five years of being in power. He said there has been “political misuse” of all institutions in the last ten years by the Congress-led government and said good governance is possible only when the government is run on policies and is not “personality-driven”.
“I am of the strong view that the poor have the first right on the resources of the country. Giving subsidy to the poor is justified and this cannot be disputed. “But the key difference is that Congress views the poor as their vote bank and wants that they should remain poor and remain dependent on the government so that their vote bank remains intact. We, however, feel that the poor be empowered to fight poverty,” he said.
