Patna : Lambasting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for ‘misleading’ the people by blaming the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government in Bihar for not utilising the Central funds properly, state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar invited the PM to have a public debate on the issue.
?Sir, I will like to know from you the veracity of your charge….it is nothing but to mislead the people,?? Nitish Kumar said while addressing a joint press conference with Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley in Patna on Sunday.
Rebutting the charge that the state Government had failed to discharge its responsibilities for utilisation of the Central assistance worth Rs 1,000 crore since 2004, the Chief Minister said there was ?no substance?? in it.
Under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, which came into force when Jharkhand was carved out of the state, the then NDA Government at the Centre had devised a formula for providing a special package of Rs 1,000 crore every year since 2002 to compensate for the losses incurred by the state following creation of the mineral-rich Jharkhand.
” I fully respect Mr Manmohan Singh as PM and also the leader of the country, though it is a different matter that the former treats another person (Ms Sonia Gandhi) as his leader,?? the Chief Minister said while taking a swipe at Singh.
” His (PM) remarks are like hit-and-run tactics,” Kumar said and threw the challenge on Singh and his Congress party to have an open debate with him on the issue.
?In fact, the Prime Minister and other Congress leaders are engaging in hit-and-run (tactics) and misleading people for politics of vote,?? Kumar said.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had also alleged to the people of poll- bound Bihar that the ruling alliance Janata Dal (United)- BJP Government failed to use the central funds.
?Yesterday, a remark was made that the Central funds are not being utilised properly in Bihar. The funds the Central Government collects is taxpayers’ money. That is not the property of the Congress party,?? Jaitley said.
He said Singh?s remark was ‘baseless’and it was the right of every state to get its share of funds collected from the state itself.
. ?Injustice is being done to Bihar. The Prime Minister should have analysed Bihar as an economist and not as a politician,?? he said.