Chamling barb at Centre

Chamling receives the award from the President in New Delhi on Thursday. Picture by Shanu Saidul

TT, New Delhi, Oct. 7: Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling today said there was no significant change in the Centre's attitude towards his state even under the Narendra Modi government.

Interacting with journalists here a day after receiving the Sustainable Development Leadership Award, 2016, from President Pranab Mukherjee, Chamling said the state had taken the lead on several fronts, including some of the pet projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi like the cleanliness drive and yet, development projects were slow to come Sikkim's way.

Asked how the Modi government was different from previous central governments, the chief minister said: "No difference."

As a case in point, he flagged the "peace bonus" that Sikkim had been asking from the Centre for the past 10 years. "We have got no response to our demand from this government also," Chamling added.

Sikkim's contention for seeking the "peace bonus" is that it has no insurgent group despite being a border state. The Rs 180 crore that it is seeking as "peace bonus" is intended for infrastructure development, particularly for improving connectivity to the state that currently relies heavily on roads. The foundation stone of the airport was laid in 2009.

He refused to say anything further.on the issue.

although hisa party, the Sikkim Democratic Front, was part of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance, an umbrella organisation of 10 regional parties.

The NEDA is part of the BJP's Northeast outreach effort to unseat the Congress and make itself the national force in the region.