New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS): There is a strong sense of apprehension and uncertainty among smaller states following the union government's proposal to wind up the Planning Commission, said Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat as he locked horns with his counterpart from the BJP-governed Maharashtra over the issue of centre-state relations in the Indian federation, Saturday.
"There is uncertainty among small states like mine regarding the potential dismantling of the Planning Commission. Who do we approach for funding and other concerns now?" Rawat said as he shared his fear for the loss of the autonomous body at the Centre that sets the country's development agenda.
"There is a logical concern because it was the Commission that interacted with us (the states) at every level until now," he added.
However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposition to strengthen cooperative federalism by replacing the commission with a new framework founded on greater centre-state partnership, and termed Rawat's concern as "baseless".
"Modi is a visionary and he wants to strengthen centre-state relations. The Congress "governed states are raising baseless concerns only because they are in the opposition," he said at Agenda, a summit on centre-state relationship organized by the India Today Group here.
In tune with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's suggestion to dismantle the Planning Commission, Fadnavis said it had achieved its original goal and was now redundant in the post-liberalisation era in India, giving birth to the need of a replacement.
"As the economy changed after the liberalisation of the 1990s, why shouldn't the instruments change?" he quizzed.
Accusing the union government of displaying an authoritarian attitude and sidelining states until the BJP assumed stewardship at the centre this May, Fadnavis said states would no longer stand with a begging bowl for funds and would have a greater say in the planning process.
In contrast, Rawat contended it was a unilateral proposal to dismantle the commission as political parties, states and the people of India were never consulted.
Amidst the bickering over change in political stands due to role reversal between the Congress and the BJP, Fadnavis assured that the BJP at the centre would ensure India treads the path of national growth while all states progress as well, the BJP and the non-BJP alike.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis, who hails from the region of Vidarbha in Maharashtra, said Vidarbha as an independent state would become a reality when the time is ripe.