BJP Bihar chief questioning ability of own party ministers: JD-U

Patna : The JD-U on Monday hit back at Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal’s comments, saying he was questioning the ability of ministers from his own party in the state.

Jaiswal on Monday said that JD-U is criticising the NITI Aayog despite the Central government having given additional funds to the state for different development projects. He said that the population of Maharashtra is higher than Bihar but the Centre is allocating a package of Rs 31,000 crore more to Bihar, which also gets Rs 21,000 crore more than West Bengal as well, despite it having a similar status to Bihar on the development front.

In response, JD-U chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said: “Bihar government is, over the years, working hard on road construction of the state. Who is holding the ministry portfolio of road construction? It’s BJP. Similarly, a large number of hospitals, medical colleges and health centers are opened in the state. The health ministry is also held by BJP ministers and it has been happening since Nitish Kumar came to power in Bihar in 2005.

“It seems that the BJP state President is not staying in Bihar or he has lost contact with his party’s ministers or MLAs. Hence, he is uploading his statement on Facebook. The Finance Minister of the state also comes from BJP. Deputy Chief Minister is holding the post of Finance Minister. In a reply in Bihar Vidhan Sabha, he said that the funds coming to the state since 2018-19 are in decreasing order.”

Meanwhile, the RJD claimed that BJP and JD-U leaders are involved in a mock fight in Bihar and common people are paying the price for it.

Party spokesman Ejaz Ahmed said: “The common people of Bihar are far away from development and BJP and JDU are playing ‘noora-kushti’ (make-believe fight). The special package to the state is just a ‘jumla’ of the Narendra Modi government. The Bihar government has admitted that the Centre has decreased funds since 2018-19. The fund allocated for Bihar is also not delivered. Due to the failure of the double engine government, Bihar reached the lowest position on the development index of the NITI Aayog.”