Patna, Sept. 4: The Congress general secretary, Mr Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday mounted his severest attack on the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, in two public meetings in the state, portraying him as a double-faced politician given to lying about Bihar’s progress and mishandling massive Central funds sent for the state’s poor.
Mr Gandhi hit the state’s JD(U)-BJP government hard on issues like development and communalism. He rebutted Mr Kumar’s recent statements that the Centre had been hostile to Bihar and that the state’s development was achieved with its own resources.
Mr Gandhi’s two speeches were full of power-packed diatribes against Mr Kumar’s government and appeals to people to help the Congress bring development and prosperity.
“Nitishji goes about saying the Delhi government (UPA) does not give funds to Bihar. The UPA government has given Bihar Rs 19,000 crore as against Rs 3,000 crore for rural development, but the money does not reach the villages and instead goes into corruption. We must give Bihar a government that runs Central schemes in the right way,” said Mr Gandhi.
Mr Gandhi said only 3,000 people in Bihar had got the promised 100 days of work under MGNREGS. “Nitishji’s government claims to have brought development to Bihar, but why are your people migrating to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Mumbai? I go everywhere in the country and find Bihar’s people working. Thackareyji orders Biharis to be driven out of Mumbai, and when you are driven out, your government keeps quiet,” he said.
“Nitish Kumar said during the last (LS) polls he would not share stage with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, but he was seen with Modi after the Bihar polls were over. Your CM was a Central minister when the Gujarat riots happened. He did not resign,” Mr Gandhi said.