Apparently seeking to reap electoral dividend in the next general elections, the Congress leadership is keen to be involved in the inauguration of the railway wheel factory in Bihar by April this year.
"We have come to know from the railway ministry that the railway wheel factory located in Bela gram panchayat under Dariapur block in Bihar's Saran district is ready," AICC Secretary in-charge of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) Sanjay Nirupam told reporters.
The Congress would like the railway wheel factory to become functional and start manufacturing of wheels at the earliest for which a formal inauguration has to take place, he said.
Although it was for the railway ministry to finalise details of inauguration function of the railway wheel factory, the Congress has proposed that it should take place next month and either Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress President Sonia Gandhi should inaugurate the project, Nirupam said.
The details about inauguration of the railway coach factory will be worked out soon and the same may take place next month with either the PM or the Congress chief being the chief guest of the function, he said.
Nirupam said that he has learnt that the railway coach factory at Harnaut in Nalanda district too was complete, but the railway ministry was yet to fix date for inauguration.
He said that the two railway projects will be token of gift by the Congress party to the people of Bihar and fulfil demand for employment avenues of the local youths.
The AICC Secretary in-charge, who was here to attend a meeting of senior BPCC leaders, said that the party has decided to complete election process of the units from block to state level within next three months and the election of a new state unit president, if necessary, will be done after completion of intra-party elections.
Charging the NDA government headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with divesting the gram panchayats of powers to implement the Centrally-Sponsored Schemes (CSS), including the MNREGA and the IAY in Bihar, he said that a committee has been formed under the leadership of senior party MLA Sadanand Singh to launch agitational programmes against the state government on the issue.
On the reports of the Congress leadership cosying up to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by assuring him to revisit criteria for special status in order to firm up his support to the UPA government, Nirupam said that all the reports in this regard was based on "speculation".
Whereas, another AICC in-charge Gulchain Singh Charak said said that though there was nothing substantive in reports of positive vibes between the Congress and the Bihar Chief Minister, but if the latter has any plan to tie up with his party then there was a committee in the AICC to look into such matters.
