Bhubaneswar, May 27: Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu Wednesday rubbished allegations by the Congress that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has struck a deal with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and slowed by the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the chit fund scam in the state.
“There is no secret deal with the BJD. The government has no intention to rein in the CBI. It was the Congress that did such a thing,” said Naidu.
On the support of the BJD in Parliament, Naidu said that the party had started opposing the land bill because of some misunderstanding but this was later sorted out in a meeting.
On the raw deal to Orissa by the 14th Finance Commission, the minister replied, “I can assure the people of Orissa that the state would not get less funds than they were getting earlier. All states, including the Orissa, will benefit from the recommendations of the commission.”
Naidu also said that the Centre has decided to include at least one city from every state including Orissa, in the proposed 100 smart city scheme. The scheme would be implemented soon, he informed.
However, the Union minister clarified that only the initial funds would be provided to the city concerned while the rest of the funds have to be generated through public-private partnership (PPP).
On the Posco issue, Naidu said, “Posco can’t be treated as a special case because every state tries to push some project as special.”