It is raining foundation stones and plaques in the state in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
After chief minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's war of words over the Patna-Bakhtiyarpur rail project at a government function in Patna on July 25, the state is poised to see another such exchange, as Modi suddenly changed his itinerary for August 18. He will still address his third Parivartan rally in Saharsa, as scheduled, but before that he will first go to Ara to lay the foundation stones of the long-awaited Ara-Patna-Buxar four-lane road and another rail bridge over the Ganga river.
"The Buxar-Patna four-lane project was inaugurated in 2012. The Union surface transport ministry had given Gammon India a safe passage by not penalising it when it backed out of the work. Fresh tendering of the project is yet to be completed. As regards the bridge over the Ganga in Mokama, even the detailed project report (DPR) has not been prepared - the alignment of the bridge has not been decided," road construction minister Lallan Singh told The Telegraph on Friday.
BJP leader and former road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav said Lallan's statement was misleading. "Both design and DPRs of the two projects have been cleared. The companies that were supposed to work in PPP mode pulled out. Now, the Union government is undertaking these projects with its own funds," he said, stressing that there was nothing wrong with the Prime Minister laying a foundation stone. "On the other hand, it is wrong for chief minister Nitish Kumar to inaugurate projects which have not been completed," he said.
Inaugurations and laying of foundation stones took up most part of last month. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has been on an inauguration and foundation-laying spree. He inaugurated the mega Sheikhpura flyover, which the BJP claimed was started when it was a partner of the JDU and Nand Kishore Yadav was road construction minister. On July 17, Nitish laid foundation stones for 415 rural drinking water projects in the state, costing over Rs 629 crore, from Patna. Similarly, he inaugurated 295 panchayat buildings in the state from Patna. Earlier, he inaugurated his ambitious Patna Museum, getting taunts from the BJP for inaugurating a project of which just one gallery was complete. Just yesterday, he laid the foundation stone for the Aryabhatt Knowledge University building. The varsity was established five years ago.
During his visit on July 25, Prime Minister Modi had launched, revived, laid the foundation stone of or inaugurated a few projects, including the new IIT-Patna building in Bihta. The JDU was quick to drill holes, declaring that most of the projects were approved during the UPA regime. It also pointed out that the state would have to incur 40 per cent of expenses for the Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana that Prime Minister Modi launched, compared to just 10 per cent it was bearing for the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. The battle for Assembly elections 2015 has begun, foundation stone vs foundation stone for now.
'Jumla babu' jibe
Nitish Kumar on Friday urged people to address the Prime Minister as " jumla babu (claptrap man)" at a function of the EBC community.
The programme was held to mark Kabir Jayanti, organised by Bihar Paan/Swasi Chaupal Bunkar Uthaan Mahasangh. It was the second consecutive day Nitish attended a function of the Economically Backward Classes.
For the first time on Friday, Nitish played an audiotape where BJP national president Amit Shah is heard saying that the Rs 15 lakh promise was all jumla (a sentence uttered in a speech, in a manner of speaking).
