Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday told the BJP “your turn will not come” to be in power at the Centre for at least a decade.
“For the next ten years, the Congress or a government led by it will remain in power in Delhi.
“I want to tell the BJP — aapka number nahin aayega (your turn will not come) for the next decade or even after that,” Mr. Chidambaram said while speaking at the party’s Plenary Session in support of the economic resolution.
He said the BJP has become “envious of the Congress” because of its “electability and re-electability” and its record of delivering growth.
Comparing the BJP-led NDA government’s performance with that the UPA-I and UPA-II, he said the highest growth rate the former could achieve in its five-year rule was 6.4 per cent, while “the UPA-I government’s lowest GDP growth rate was 6.7 per cent” and that too in a year which saw the global economic meltdown.
While the average growth rate during the entire NDA rule was 5.8 per cent, “ours is a mirror image — at 8.5 per cent during UPA-I”, Mr. Chidambaram said, adding that the UPA-II government’s first year experienced a 7.4 per cent rate and the second year is poised to achieve 9 per cent.
Talking on States ruled by non-Congress parties, he said the governments there could not give the excuse of not having funds to implement major Central schemes.
The cash balance of states, as late as two days ago, stood at Rs. 95,398 crore.
“If any State tells you that they don’t have money, I tell you, don’t believe that government,” he said, adding that the central devolution to states would touch the Rs. 3 lakh crore mark in the current financial year.
Mr. Chidambaram also urged the government to get the women’s reservation bill passed “before 2011 is out” and take steps to provide healthcare and education to all and make all habitations, whether in Minicoy island or in the Northeast,“livable” by providing them the basic amenities.
Maintaining that food security bill was in the advanced stage of consideration, he said the government in the coming days should also ensure implementation of measures for development of tribals and ensure social security, universal employment and the right to identity.
