Bihar is no more ‘Bimaru’: Nitish to PM Modi

BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday addressed the second “Parivartan Rally” by BJP in Bihar’s Gaya district.

Facing one of the toughest electoral battles in his political career, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday reached out to migrants from the state in the national capital, inaugurating the Delhi Chapter of Bihar Foundation. “Nobody will like to make a joke of himself by calling Bihar a BIMARU state”, Kumar said hours after Modi promised to remove the tag by ushering in development once NDA was voted to power in the state.

“People are awaiting to get Rs 15-20 lakh from the black money you promised to bring back from overseas”.

He said people should use the upcoming polls as an opportunity to “free themselves from the jungle raj” by voting for the NDA.

The killing of a BJP worker in Patna does not mean there is no rule of law in Bihar, Kumar said. Without naming Manjhi, his protege-turned foe, who is now a BJP ally, Kumar said,”PM should have said the assembly elections will be contested under his leadership”.

“If “Jungle Raj Part II” returns here, then Bihar will be destroyed”, he claimed. “They have drank poison now, they will spew venom on people of Bihar later”.

“I totally disagree with Modi’s perception that Bihar still remains a BIMARU state and to me, the state is healthy on parameters like health and education among others”, he said. Bihar citizens have taken the decision of building a strong state and bringing about a change after suffering for 25 years.

“But there are only 25,000 engineering seats in Bihar, against 1.13 lakh in neighbouring Orissa, 1.04 lakh in a smaller state like Punjab and 40,000 in tiny Uttarakhand”, he said, adding people of the state have only suffered “arrogance and deceit” over the last 25 years. “Could we hear something on this?”, he said in another tweet. “As per the procedure laid down, the central government talks to the state government, its CM, through the Home Minister on the appointment of a Governor”.

Kumar called the appointment of Kovind “unprecedented” saying in all his years in politics, he had never heard of a Governor being appointment without any input from the Chief Minister. Kumar said.

Meanwhile, NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar attacked the Prime Minister for describing jails as a place where one learns only bad things and asked him why Amit Shah was made the president of BJP despite the fact that he had been imprisoned on criminal charges. “Can Bihar be left in their hands?” he asked.