RANCHI, Dec. 11 -- State rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh on Thursday alleged that Union ministers have refused to grant appointments for official meetings, countering the Opposition's claim that the state is not pursuing pending issues with the Centre.

Singh's statement came in response to a suggestion made by the Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand assembly, Babulal Marandi, who said that state ministers should approach Union ministers and try to get their work done instead of accusing the Centre of obstructing the disbursal of funds, which also gets stuck when the state fails to meet the laid-down parameters.

"I don't want to make certain remarks here. But this is a fact: we are not getting appointments for meeti...