)
Seeking to claim equal credit for developing Bihar during the past one decade, BJP today launched a sharp attack on Nitish Kumar for taking sole credit saying "all good things" had happened when JD(U) was a partner of the erstwhile NDA government.
"We (BJP) deserve as much credit as the JD(U) and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for development of Bihar during the past decade," senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters here.
The erstwhile NDA government had done exceedingly well on governance and development fronts during its first term in office for which the electorate had handsomely rewarded the erstwhile coalition giving it over three-fourth seats in 2010 assembly polls, he claimed.
The BJP move to claim equal credit for development in Bihar during the erstwhile NDA rule came after Kumar was yesterday projected as the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance's face for the forthcoming Assembly polls with an aim to encash public perception about the chief minister being a crusader for development of the state.
Claiming that both development and governance became a casualty after the senior JD(U) leader 'betrayed' the mandate by walking out of the NDA in June 2013, Modi challenged the Chief Minister to spell out a single development scheme that his government launched in past two years.Modi said as far as he could recall, the Nitish Kumar government came up with a scheme for distribution of sanitary napkins to the girl students in school last year, but it failed due to lack of funds and tardy implementation.
Less should be spoken about development in Bihar during post-NDA government as the Chief Minister has lost control over governance since them as reflected in growing lawlessness and anarchy in Bihar, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.
The senior BJP leader took the Chief Minister to task for non-distribution of pension to 63 lakh beneficiaries comprising aged people, widows and physically challenged persons since December last year under schemes being run by the Centre and the state government.
The state government has failed to utilise Rs 970 crore allocated by the Centre under the PMGSY even as rural roads lie in shambles, Modi said.
The state government, he alleged, was happy with earning interest from the funds lying unused in banks as the officials have no time to withdraw the money and give it to the concerned department to undertake construction and repair of rural roads.
The senior BJP leader said that development took place in the state till his party was part of the government and since then only negative publicity has come Bihar's way due to alarming increase in crime and scams.
