Narayanasamy denies discrimination against Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Rejecting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's allegation of discrimination against Odisha by the UPA government at the Centre, Congress leader and minister of state in the PMO V Narayanasamy on Monday said the Centre had sanctioned above Rs one lakh crore during the 12th plan period.

"The amount of allocations to Odisha is an instance that the UPA government did not discriminate against non-Congress-ruled states," he told reporters.

Asked to comment on Patnaik's recent statement that UPA betrayed Aam Aadmi, Nayaranasamy said: "We do not expect a praise from a non-Congress chief minister."

Narayanasamy, however, welcomed Patnaik's stand on the FDI in retail sector, saying that BJD MPs would make their party's stand clear during the debate in Parliament.

"We hope the BJD MPs will support FID for the interest of the country," he said.

Claiming that the UPA government allocated Rs 17,200 crore to Odisha during 2012-13 fiscal, Narayansamy said the amount was about 43 per cent more than the previous financial year.

Narayansamy claimed that the Centre had allocated a huge sum of money for the major schmes like MGNREGA, PMGSY and SSA.

"We are focussing on the backward states," he claimed rejecting Patnaik's allegation that Odisha was a victim of political discrimination.

Narayanswamy, however, said that the Centre was expecting Odisha government to meet the target in different welfare schemes, particularly in its efforts to reduce infant mortalty rate, mother mortalty rate and poverty reduction.