Patna, April 11: The praise showered by social worker Anna Hazare on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has stumped the Opposition.

“We have great respect for Anna saheb. But he should avoid making controversial statements and stop behaving like a party spokesperson. He should have come to Bihar and seen the ground realties for himself where people have to pay for caste, land and even birth certificates,” said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav, stressing that Hazare should keep his movement non-political.

Tariq Anwar, the NCP general secretary and an MP, said Hazare should have read the latest CAG report. “The report says everything is not well in Bihar and that the government did not meet its constitutional duty of submitting detailed contingency (DC) bills worth Rs 11,000 crore. As for the claims made in rural development in Bihar, Anna saheb should visit the rural areas of the state to know the reality himself,” said Anwar.

The praise could not have come at a better time for the Nitish government, which came under the fire after the CAG report was tabled in the Assembly. The CAG report has recorded its displeasure over the state government’s failure to produce DC bills worth Rs 11,000 crore and financial irregularities detected in 2009-10 worth over Rs 400 crore. The report had the Opposition demanding a CBI probe into the irregularities and labelling the Nitish government “corrupt”.

Nitish though is upbeat. “There is nothing much I can say. Everybody is watching what is happening in Bihar. Any award or praise becomes an encouragement to work further,” he said. The chief minister, who had strongly backed Hazare in his demand for an independent committee to draft the Jan Ayukta Bill, also backed the social worker’s demand to introduce the right to recall bill — a proposal under which the people can recall their representatives in legislative bodies. “We have emerged from the JP agitation in which introduction of the right to recall was a major issue. Unfortunately, the government which came to power after 1977 said the demand was impractical. I am happy that Anna has raised the same demand after 30 years,” the chief minister said.

Nitish rattled off what his government had been doing to combat corruption — Special Court Act 2009, which gives the government the power to confiscate the property of corrupt public servants; the Right To Service Bill which lays down a stipulated time-frame for issuing certificates and services to people and his determination to make public the assets of ministers and officers on a year-to-year basis.