Manish Tewari hits out at municipal authorities in Ludhiana

, Dec 4: Union Minister

on Wednesday lashed out at the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities for allegedly discriminating against wards represented by Congress, saying the grants provdied to them were "peanuts".

The Information and Broadcasting Minister and Ludhiana MP said there was a huge gap in the development grants provided by the authorities in Congress and Akali-BJP wards.

When asked for funds, the MC authorities always made an excuse saying it was short of funds and paid Congress' wards "peanuts", while funds were splurged at will in Akali-BJP wards, he said, addressing a public meeting at Lohara village in Ludhiana.

Warning the authorities of consequences, the minister said development cannot be carried out at whims and fancies of individuals and asked them to make it "uniform and indiscriminate". Tewari said the Akali-BJP alliance must not take power for granted as people will teach them a lesson in the 2014 Parliamentary elections.

PTI