Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Sunday accused the BJP-led Centre of completely ignoring Punjab’s needs and sacrifices in the Union Budget and said it was a “deliberate attempt to derail the growth of Punjab”.Addressing reporters here, he said there was no mention of the state anywhere in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech.He said there was also no mention of the long-pending Rural Development Fund (RDF) of Rs 8,500 crore that was legitimately due to the state.Claiming that the budgetary provisions were against farmers, Cheema said Punjab had once again been pushed to manage on its own despite bearing the burden of the national food security, facing repeated natural calamities and responsibly handling RDF obligations.“The memorandum submitted by Punjab to the Union Finance Minister has been blatantly ignored. Punjab has always stood firm in the defence of the country and has not reduced its contribution to the Central food pool. In fact, our contribution has increased every year,” he said.“The poor financial condition of states has been completely ignored. The vertical devolution, which is the total share of all states in the tax pool, has been kept unchanged at 41 per cent. There is no increase at all despite the fiscal stress faced by states,” Cheema added.The Punjab minister said 16th the Finance Commission had not recommended any Revenue Deficit Grants, whereas the 15th Finance Commission had done so.“Conditions imposed on the State Disaster Response Fund are overly restrictive and will severely affect states like Punjab in mitigating and managing disasters,” he said. Criticising the reduction in subsidies, Cheema said, “Urea subsidy has been reduced to Rs 1,16, 805 crore. There is nothing for the common people.”Jakhar junks charge, asks govt to submit apt plans Sunil JakharPunjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on Monday trashed AAP allegations over the Union Budget, saying the state would benefit from the Centre’s thrust on crop diversification if appropriate plans were submitted to it.He also alleged that even before the Budget, during a meeting chaired by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema did not present any proposals or development demands, only requesting an increase in the borrowing limit.He also questioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, asking when he last raised Punjab’s demands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Jakhar alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, out of fear of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, avoided meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and did not meet him even when he visited Punjab, thereby violating established conventions.He said it would have been better had the Chief Minister met the Prime Minister and placed Punjab’s additional demands before him.Jakhar added that the Centre had allocated a substantial budget for fisheries, animal husbandry and fertiliser subsidies.He said the Centre was providing Rs 1.70 lakh crore as fertiliser subsidy, of which Punjab received a significant share due to its high consumption. Jakhar described the Union Budget as being inspired by the egalitarian philosophy of Guru Ravidas and claimed that it laid a strong foundation towards building a developed India.He added that Narendra Modi himself had statedyesterday that like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Moga and Ferozepur would benefit from the Budget, and that it would accelerate their development.