Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday said that Punjab was the most indebted state in India, with debt accounting for 50 percent of state GDP.
Ahead of the assembly polls in the state, Sidhu in a series of tweets wrote, "half of our expenditure is funded by expensive debt. Lets not derail from real issues to which every Punjabi and party worker demands solution."
Sidhu said "financial accountability and transparency" were the "pillars of Punjab Model".
"Accountability demands revealing sources of funds at every scheme announcement, whether from income or from more debt. Transparency demands making public state’s fiscal health every month," Sidhu said.
Sidhu said stopping theft of the state’s resources, filling up the public exchequer and creating a welfare state through income generation was the solution.
"Taxes should not go to settle debt but go back to the people in the form of development. Solution oriented model is to stop theft of state’s resources, fill up public exchequer and create a Welfare State through income generation," he said.
On Thursday, while expressing concerns over the deteriorating fiscal health of Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu courted controversy when he said the state may be heading for a civil war-like situation if enough resources were not generated to pay off its public debt.
The BJP over his statement that the state may be heading towards a civil war-like situation.
BJP National Secretary Tarun Chugh in a statement warned Navjot Singh Sidhu against spreading panic and fear among the people of Punjab by hinting at a civil war.
