NDA's flagship NHDP and PMGSY schemes were my ideas: Yashwant Sinha

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday claimed that the central government’s projects like the National Highway Development Project and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna were originally his ideas.

"The national highway project was entirely my idea. For me, the NHDP was no new thought. I had nurtured it from the time I was posted in Germany in the 1970s. Germany is famous for its autobahns (a federal controlled-access highway system)," Sinha said.

Sinha, who quit the BJP last year, also claimed that the PMGSY was his idea. "At a meeting with Vajpayee, I first suggested that we launch a new scheme for the construction of rural roads and earmark separate funds towards this. I even suggested that the programme be called the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Gram Sadak Yojana. Although Vajpayee liked the idea, he rejected the suggestion that the scheme be named after him," he said.

Singh had held the finance and external affairs portfolio in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet between 1998 and 2004.