Chief minister Nitish Kumar listens to complainants at his weekly janata darbar on Monday. (PTI)

Patna, Aug. 8: The standoff between the government and Raj Bhavan escalated today with chief minister Nitish Kumar defending the human resource development department’s objections to the governor’s working style and asking him to “reconsider” the recent appointments of six vice-chancellors and five pro-vice-chancellors in the state’s universities.

“What the minister (P.K. Shahi) has stated is the government’s stand. I approve of what he (Shahi) has said for he has kept me in confidence,” Nitish said on the sidelines of the janata darbar today.

He expressed “surprise” over the governor’s reported claim that he had consulted the chief minister while appointing the vice-chancellors and pro-VCs on August 1.

“I was surprised to learn the governor claiming that he had consulted me on the appointment of the six VCs and five pro-VCs,” Nitish said. “But I will stay within my limits. It does not look decent for me to use unkind words about a person holding constitutional position.”

Governor Devanand Konwar was not available for comment. Raj Bhavan sources said Konwar was out of Patna and would be back later this week.

The governor, who is also the chancellor of universities, appointed six VCs and five pro-VCs to various universities last week. The government says he did so “without consulting” it as required under the law. Shahi, the HRD minister who has in the past too has attacked the governor, went so far as to dub the appointments “illegal and void”.

One of the pro-VCs appointed, Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, has since refused to join his new assignment on personal grounds. Singh had been appointed pro-VC of Patna University.

Shahi’s hard stand comes at a time when the relationship between the government and Raj Bhavan was already strained. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi too hit out at the governor for “sitting” over five important bills passed by the legislature.

The HRD department has already sent a letter to the principal secretary, Raj Bhavan, Afzal Amanullah, requesting the chancellor to “reconsider” the appointments.

Speaking on the issue for the first time, the chief minister pointed out that the government had been spending Rs 2,100 crore on the payment of salary to university and college teachers and staff across the state. “In spite of the bottlenecks, the state of higher education is improving in Bihar,” he said.

Nitish cited the examples of Chanakya National Law University, Indian Institute of Technology-Patna and Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna, which are being set up at the initiative of his government. He said the state had borne the capital expenditure for setting up these institutions.

Aid rap on Delhi

Nitish expressed anguish at what he described as the Centre’s growing “discriminatory” attitude towards Bihar.

“Never before did India have such an unfair and biased dispensation at the top,” he said when asked for his reaction to Bengal getting a package of Rs 21,614 crore from the Centre. Nitish clarified that he didn’t grudge Bengal getting the aid, but wondered why Bihar was ignored.