Patna, Oct. 18: BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today sought the removal of three government advisers, including Prashant Kishor - the chief minister's adviser on polices and programme implementation - calling them "white elephants".
On the sidelines of his weekly janata durbar, Sushil said Nitish Kumar should sack Prashant; P.K. Rai, who advises the chief minister on energy; and former IAS official Sudhir Kumar, who advises the road construction department led by deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
The reason? According to Sushil none of them are discharging their duty in a desired manner; some are even hindering work. "Prashant Kishor is so busy that he has little time to advise on polices and programme implementation," said Sushil in his scathing attack on the man credited with the Grand Alliance's Assembly poll win last year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha sweep in 2014.
"Kishor is so adamant about getting six rail over bridges (ROBs) sanctioned in Saran and Vaishali, that construction of 90 other ROBs has not started in the past 18 months."
Sushil said construction of the other ROBs would speed up development work but the state government is unnecessarily demanding construction of the six ROBs that have very less traffic flow. "The state has even threatened to stall construction of the 90 ROBs if permission for the six is not granted," Sushil said.
The ROBs are to be built under a joint venture between the state government and railways, both bearing fifty per cent of the construction cost. He said delay in the construction indicates Nitish has lost his grip in administration.
Reacting to the jibe, Tejashwi said the Prime Minister and Union ministers are praising Bihar government on the development front but Sushil had a negative approach. "Till June 2013, the road construction department was in the BJP's quota," Tejashwi said. "If BJP ministers were so focused on development, why weren't the road over bridges completed then."
This March, during his first visit to Bihar after the Bihar Assembly elections, Prime Minister Modi had praised the Bihar government on improvement in the energy sector.
