Patna: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Saturday slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar over spending on events that get cancelled.

Tejashwi said the Bihar government wasted crores of public money for Rajgir Mahotsav and then the programme was hit at the eleventh hour. The event was to be held at Quila Maidan, which falls under ASI's restricted zone, from November 25 to 27. But it will now be held at a different venue from November 27 to 29.

"Who will bear the cost of the arrangement made at Quila Maidan," Tejashwi asked. "I am sure the money spent on arrangements and cultural programmes must be in crores. Why did the state government not take prerequisite approval from ASI? Who is responsible for this and what action has been taken against those officers? I do not have any problem with events being organised, but in the name of events, Nitish ji is just doing his own branding and wasting public money."

Tejashwi reminded that earlier the power energy conference was postponed and now the Rajgir Mahotsav.

"Rs 60 crore was wasted for the energy department conference and now this Rajgir Mahotsav has got postponed," Tejashwi said. "Both programmes were under the Centre's purview so this means all is not well between the JDU and the BJP-led NDA. The chief minister should come up with an explanation why public money is being wasted this way. Why was the Bihar programme cancelled at the eleventh hour? An ego war is on between Bihar government and the Centre."

The main events of the Mahotsav, including cultural programmes, will now be held at the Rajgir international convention centre.

Tejashwi also took a jibe at Nitish over rising incidents of crime in the state. He said, tongue-in-cheek, that if Nitish cannot resign himself over increasing incidents of crime and scams, he could ask Tejashwi to quit. "When I was deputy chief minister no scams took place and the crime rate was not as high, but ever since the RJD left the government, both have increased manifold," Tejashwi said. "If Nitish ji cannot be held responsible as chief minister, he can seek the resignation of the Leader of the Opposition at least. He should seek my resignation."

He also did not spare Nitish on prohibition, a day ahead of November 26, which the state observes as prohibition day. "Nitish ji has enough time to count the number of rasgullas, sewing machines and branded clothes sold after prohibition, but is unable to crack down on the liquor mafia, which is easily entering the city and selling liquor at premium. One needs to cross at least five to six districts to enter Patna and I am wondering why none of the police stations are able to catch them," Tejashwi said.

JDU MLC Neeraj Kumar, on other hand, attacked Tejashwi for his comment, saying he should better speak on disproportionate assets, corruption and dynasty politics.