WITH Lok Sabha polls round the corner the blame game among the political parties has began. Recently Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has accused the NDA government of ignoring the North-East and not providing enough financial assistance. “I was under the impression that after P. A. Sangma and North East People’s Forum join the NDA, the region would be flooded with sops in the budget,’’ said the Chief Minister taking a dig at the Centre. “But ironically the NDA had once again proved that they were least bothered about the North-East. They did not give anything and in fact now took away which was due to us,’’ he asserted. Mincing no words, he accused the Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj of backtracking from her promise of building one AIIMS-type hospital in the North-East. ‘’The Centre gave six AIIMS to the country, but not a single one to the North-East. Ms. Swaraj had promised Rs 120 crore for the upgradation of the medical colleges of Assam but that never happened. We are completely disappointed by this attitude,’’ he said. The Chief Minister expressed dismay over reducing grant to the North Eastern Council (NEC). The NEC was promised Rs 1,000 crore by the Department of Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER). That was, however, reduced to Rs 500 crore and eventually it was trimmed to Rs 395 crore. “This is the example of the NDA Government’s love for the North-East,’’ he quipped. Taking a dig at the three Union Ministers’ recent visit to inaugurate a railway track at Nagaon district, he said,  “this stretch of the railway was cleared by me and now the Samata Party is trying to take the credit. But the common people have realised the NDA’s bias against the North-East.’’ Referring to Bihar, the Chief Minister said the Union Ministers hailing from the State brought investment worth Rs 50,000 crore. But Bijaya Chakaravarty had not brought even one rupee in the last two years to Assam.

The Chief Minister is livid over the fact that the NDA government had withdrawn the ST status of the Koch-Rajbongshis. “In  independent India no one had withdrawn ST status of a community once it was alloted to a group. But the NDA government had done exactly that.’’ Expressing confidence of winning all the 14 LS seats in Assam, the Chief Minister said despite the possible alliance between AGP and BJP, the Congress would win comfortably.

However, Union Minister of State for Water Resources and BJP MP from Assam Bijoya Chakravarty has launched a counter-attack defending NDA government in response to recent criticism by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi accusing the Centre of complete bias against the state and North-East. Mr Gogoi has criticised the NDA Government and cited several instances of ‘’systematic denial’’ of dues by the Centre, while accusing Bijoya Chakravarty of being unable to attract fund for the State.

“This is unbecoming of a Chief Minister to talk on a personal line. I wished to see these types of statements from him closer to the polling day. Not now,’’ the Union Minister of State said. Countering Mr Gogoi’s statement, Ms. Chakarvarty announced that her ministry had allocated funds worth Rs 467 crore in the last four years with Rs 400.67 crore coming for flood management and irrigation.

“Besides there are some additional Rs 40 crore as well as another Rs 75.5 crores channelised through the DONER. It is absolute foolishness on the part of the Chief Minister to say that Bihar Minister brought in Rs 50,000 crore of investment while I have not brought a penny,’’ she said. Ms. Chakravarty also informed that the Home Ministry had sent

Rs 369 crore for calamity relief fund in Assam, “of which Rs 158 crores have not been utilised so far’’. “I would like to inform Mr Gogoi that in the previous 25 years only Rs 350 crores have been spent in the water resources, while during my tenure Rs 467 crores had come,’’ she said, adding that Assam would like to know what Mr Gogoi had brought for the State.

“This time I am not taking a chance and Rs 75 crores have been used only for development of Guwahati roads through the Central Government agency National Building Construction Company (NBCC),’’ she said. Regarding the Chief Minister’s allegation that funds for the North Eastern Council (NEC) had been reduced over the years, Ms.  Chakrvarty said total funds for the North-East  development had not decreased.

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