BJP today said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was clinging to the straw called Lalu Prasad to escape from drowning, and rubbished Kumar's statement against the special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.
"Like a drowning man, he (Kumar) is already clutching hard at the straw called Lalu Prasad, but the Tsunami of development politics is sure to drown him this time," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.
The veteran BJP leader rubbished Kumar's argument against the special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore announced by the PM, that it was nothing but "repackage" by including old schemes.
"He is opposing special package on flimsy grounds to salvage his drowning career," he said.
Sushil Modi, who was Deputy Chief Minister during NDA rule, dismissed Kumar argument against PM's special package.
Kumar argued that projects where ground work is done do not qualify as special package, since ground work has already been done.
The CM further maintained that plans and commitment to fast track implementation of projects that have been talked about for years but not seen light of the day cannot be counted as part of the package since they had already been "pre-approved".
Projects under pioneering central government schemes/ programmes such as Skill India mission, IPDS, Bharat Mala project are again wrongful appropriation as they are not restricted to Bihar alone, the CM said.
Projects being executed by central agencies or non-government agencies under PPP cannot be counted because how can people of Bihar get benefits directly without the Bihar government first getting its hand on the funds, he argued.
In response to Kumar's contention, Sushil Modi retorted, "Such is the classical modus operandi used by Nitish Kumar to try and deceive the people of Bihar about historic package by the NDA government. No project in the entire universe can be considered as a part of special package according to Nitish Kumar's definition.
