AAP slams Haryana govt for White Paper

Panchkula (Hr), Mar 8: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today slammed the BJP-led Haryana government for coming out with a 'White Paper on State Finances', saying it was "unfair" on the part of the government to come out with public documents.

"They (BJP) should have known before hand (the fiscal situation of state). These (White Paper) are just public documents. First, you promise a lot of things in your election manifesto and then you say it is not possible (to fulfill promises) based on these documents. It is cheating," senior AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said here today.

"I think it is not fair on the part of government. If they had discovered something new that they did not have access to while in opposition, then you should bring this information out. "This is simply not done. This is not fair and this is betraying people," Yadav added.

The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana came out with White Paper on State Finances' in two parts for the last 10 years.

The state government claimed that it had "inherited a shattered economy and near-empty coffers," and also said that the "inequitable" allocation of funds by the previous Congress regime during the past 10 years led to "skewed development" and "regional disparities" in the state.

The white paper also painted a grim picture of the state-PSUs, including power generation and distribution companies, saddled with massive accumulated losses and debt.

While stating its point over the issue, the BJP government had earlier said, "the White Paper seeks to diagnose the areas where course correction by way of policy intervention is required to put the economy on a fast growth trajectory."

PTI