Patna, June 12: The BJP is going all out to puncture the Nitish Kumar government's development claims ahead of Assembly elections later this year.
Countering the ruling JDU's claims through big hoardings screaming " Aage Badhta Rahe Bihar, Phir Ek Bar Nitish Kumar," senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav today wondered where Bihar had progressed and why the people should make Nitish chief minister again.
He cited the tardy pace of some mega road and bridge projects undertaken by the state government to strengthen his point.
"The chief minister has questioned the central government vis-à-vis national highway projects and its maintenance. Instead of thanking the Centre, Nitish is making baseless allegations against the central government to hide his government's failure in the two years since the JDU snapped ties with the BJP (in June 2013)," Leader of Opposition Nand Kishore told reporters.
A day ago, Nitish, while addressing the 40th foundation day function of Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd, had likened Union ministers to " bhonpus (loudmouths)" who have not given anything in actual terms to Bihar.
"Union road transport, highway and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari landed here and announced that the Centre had sanctioned a Rs 50,000-crore road project for Bihar on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completing a year in office. But the fact remains that the Centre has not sanctioned even Rs 50 to the state under the road head," Nitish had said.
But Nand Kishore, who was state road construction minister during the NDA regime, when the JDU and BJP were sharing power in the state, wanted to know from Nitish the status of road and bridge projects started during NDA regime.
"I challenge the chief minister to declare the progress of these projects in the past two years. And in case there has been no progress on this front, then why Nitish Kumar again? This question will continue to be asked till the Assembly elections," he said.
Nand Kishore said important projects like the Sheikhpura-Jagdeo Path flyover and the Mithapur-Chiraiyatand-Exhibition Road flyover have not been completed, making commuters' lives miserable. He added he was clueless about the progress of the Ganga path being built along the river in Patna.
The BJP leader was addressing a function organised at the party office to welcome Pawan Jaiswal, Independent MLA from Dhaka (East Champaran district), into the party.
Jaiswal and hundreds of his supporters joined the party today in the presence of prominent BJP leaders like Mangal Pandey, Ganga Prasad, MP Rama Devi and legislators Sanjay Mayukh, Pramod Kumar, Ajay Kumar Singh and Lalbabu Prasad among others.
On the occasion, BJP state unit chief Mangal Pandey said there was huge difference between Nitish's " kathni aur karni (words and deeds)".
He said: "Nitish preaches sushashan (good governance) to his senior police officials and then joins hands with those infamous for Jungle Raj. People are observing Nitish's 'dohra charitra' (double standards) minutely and will him a reply in the Assembly polls."
At a function organised to honour policemen in Patna today, Nitish had, in his address, asked police officials to tame criminals to maintain the rule of law in the state.
