Union Budget 2013: Road scheme bounty for poll-bound states

NEW DELHI: Finance minister P Chidambaram has said that a new version of Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) — a popular central scheme to fund construction of rural roads — will be launched for the benefit of states like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Interestingly, Congress is hopeful about these states which, barring Punjab, go to polls on either side of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.Congress is sure of regaining Karnataka, where elections will be held in April. The specially-designed road programme comes in line with the attention the state got in railway budget and which got reflected in the decision to give special status to a clutch of six politically-significant backward districts.
Congress has not given up hopes about the year-end polls in Rajasthan despite a strong anti-incumbency. The outcome in the state will influence the atmospherics for next year’s parliamentary election, and the budget sop is aimed at helping the Gehlot government.
Assembly polls in AP, where ruling Congress is in a bad shape, are likely to be held along with the LS contest.
Congress hopes to cash in on the fragmented opposition in Maharashtra and Haryana that go to polls in October 2014.
The selection of states for PMGSY–II drew sharp protests from opposition members.
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