The Uttar Pradesh government boycotted a high-level meeting called by the Centre on Tuesday to discuss the development of Bundelkhand through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Apart from Union minister of state for rural development Pradeep Jain, the meeting ? held in Orchha, in the Madhya Pradesh part of Bundelkhand – had on its list of participants principal secretary to Prime Minister T K Nair and five secretaries of various Central ministries. However, Uttar Pradesh stayed away, questioning the Centre?s ?intentions?.
?We are not against anyone,? said Uttar Pradesh minister of rural development Daddu Prasad. ?It is just that the intentions of the Central government are not clear regarding Bundelkhand. It is difficult to sail with the boatman who does not tell his people about the direction in which he is heading. Moreover, if they were so serious about Bundelkhand, they should have discussed the dates with us in advance.?
Prasad claimed that it was difficult for Uttar Pradesh to send a representative as a Cabinet meeting was also scheduled on Tuesday.
Bundelkhand has been a bone of contention between the Centre and the Mayawati government, with both holding each other responsible for the region?s backwardness. Rahul Gandhi?s visits to Bundelkhand haven?t gone down well with the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
The meeting called by the Centre comes in the backdrop of Rahul?s petition to the Prime Minister for a special package for the region. The meeting discussed ?Inter-sectoral convergence with NREGS for enhancing productivity in Bundelkhand districts?.
Since Bundelkhand is spread across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, chief secretaries of the two states along with the development commissioner of Madhya Pradesh and the Uttar Pradesh principal secretary of rural development were invited.
A senior official said the idea behind bringing together such senior officers was to ensure that schemes of various departments were synchronised to bring development in the region through NREGS funds.
While the meeting was originally scheduled at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, the code of conduct came into place after announcement of by-elections and the venue was changed to Orchha. UP saw red at this too, saying ?the political motive behind the meeting? was clear; Orchha is hardly 15 km from Jhansi.
Incidentally MoS Pradeep Jain belongs to Jhansi and his reputation is at stake in the coming by-election, which was necessitated by his resignation from the Assembly after winning a seat to the Lok Sabha.
