KORDWAR, Apr 5: Often criticised by opposition BJP for rolling out various schemes in a hurry, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said he was inspired by Anil Kapoor’s character in the film ‘Nayak’ who was made the Chief Minister for one day.
“Inspired by the role of Anil Kapoor in the film “Nayak”, I inaugurated more than 1800 schemes on a single day but this action was not to influence voters but a well thought exercise for the development of Uttarakhand as financial arrangements for more than 1600 schemes out of them have already been made,” said Rawat who was here to appeal to the voters to vote in favour of Congress candidates.
He said he launched hundreds of schemes on a single day much like the hero of a popular Bollywood movie who becomes CM just for one day because he did not want the election schedule and the Model Code of Conduct to clash with his agenda of development in the rain-ravaged state badly in need of repair and reconstruction.
Drawing generously from cricketing terminology to explain the hurry with which the schemes were launched, the chief minister said he was going about it like a cricketer plays a 20:20 match.
“In view of the proximity of the polls I did not have much time in my hands and I played it like a 20:20 match. I even took recourse to “helicopter shots” Mahendra Singh Dhoni style to implement the development schemes in quick succession,” he said.
With little time at his disposal as poll schedules were to be announced soon which would have put a restriction on implementation of development schemes, he had to make a hurry soon after he was sworn in as chief minister on February 1 to inaugurate development projects, he explained.
Admitting that some of his colleagues were unhappy initially with the delay in distribution of portfolios, he said he kept most portfolios with him for more than a month as he wanted quick implementation of the schemes which would otherwise have been delayed due to multiplicity of authorities.
“Now my colleagues understand that I used helicopter shots not for any other reason but for development,” the Chief Minister said.
Claiming that the hurry displayed by him from the very outset has paid off, Rawat said his government had created 20000 jobs for SCs and STs in the last two months which is something the BJP government had failed to do in its long tenure of six and a half years.
He also accused the BJP of putting up hurdles in the path of timely settlement of the claims of disaster victims.
“When my government was only 12-days-old and desperately working to help disaster victims, instead of cooperating with us, BJP brought in a no-confidence motion against me to distract me,” he said.
Taking a dig at former party colleague and arch rival Satpal Maharaj who recently defected to BJP , he said the Pauri-Garhwal MP who himself ran away from fighting election, was now going to advise BJP candidates across the country on how to contest and win an election.
Commenting on Modi he said those who wear designer suits for every meeting cannot understand the problems of the poor.
BJP is spending more money on promoting brand Modi through advertisements than the rest of the parties including Congress put together.
He accused Modi of being capable of only thinking about the likes of Ambaani, Adani and Tata.
“He has no dialogue with the poor of the state(Gujarat),” Rawat said.
Commenting on the “much-flaunted Gujarat development model”, he said Modi’s state is far behind Uttarakhand in providing education, health and hygiene.
Citing an example, he said percentage of toilets per household is far less in Gujarat than in Uttarakhand.
Similarly he mentioned about the high infant mortality and maternal death rates during child birth in Gujarat to show up Uttarakhand in a better light.
He said the real development in Uttarakhand will come if people care for the state’s water, land and forest resources.
The Chief Minister said if people think he is honestly working for the development of Uttarakhand and his policies would help common man and women, then they must vote for Congress candidates to strengthen his hands. (PTI)
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