Locked in a turf war with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo on Saturday resigned from the Panchayat and Rural development department. He claimed that not a single house was built for homeless people under the Prime Minister housing scheme, saying that funds were not allotted by the CM despite “repeated request”.
The development comes over a year ahead of the Assembly elections in the Congress-ruled state.
Singh Deo, who holds multiple portfolios, will remain the minister for Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Twenty Point Implementation and Commercial Tax (GST) departments.
The sudden development is seen as the bitter fallout of an old political rivalry between Baghel and Singh Deo, who was seeking the chief minister’s post under a purported power-sharing agreement.
“I have resigned from the Panchayat and Rural Development Department,” the minister said.
In a four-page resignation letter addressed to the chief minister, Singh Deo cited various reasons stating that he was unable to fulfil the targets of the department as per the vision of the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the “current scenario”.
“Despite my repeated request to you, funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna were not allotted as a result of which houses could not be constructed for 8 lakh people. Providing houses to the homeless poor was a key promise in the poll manifesto. But in the incumbent government, not a single house was built for the homeless and progress of the scheme was nil,” he said in the letter.
Singh Deo also claimed that the draft of rules under the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act prepared by his department and sent to a committee was changed without him being taken into confidence.
Under the Mukhyamantri Samagra Gramin Vikas Yojna, a committee of secretaries headed by the chief secretary was constituted against the standard protocol for granting final approval to works. The discretion to approve works of any department lies with the concerned minister, he added.
“I have raised objections over the constitution of this committee but it went in vain, due to which development works worth over Rs 500 crore could not be implemented,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Congress party has called the legislature party meeting on Sunday after the ministerial portfolio resignation. The meeting is slated to be held at the CM’s official residence at 7 pm.
(With inputs from PTI)
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