Attacking Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he was “too arrogant” to be trusted with governance and asked people to back the development agenda of the BJP to change the State’s fortunes.
Addressing his first public rally after the announcement of Assembly polls, Modi wooed the youth and the poor by promising to address the issue of migration for employment and told them that the solution to all their problems lay in development.
The Prime Minister also took a dig at his rivals for doubting the delivery of the financial package for Bihar which he had announced. “Some people are raising questions on the ₹1.65 lakh crore package announced by me. They are asking whether it will come or not. Should a single rupee be given to the present government. Will it reach you?”
“Even if I give it, his (Nitish’s) arrogance is so much that he may even return it. I am worried that even if I give the ₹1.65 lakh crore to the State, he will announce that he does not require this money as it has been given by Modi. I cannot trust him,” he said, recalling that an ‘angry’ Kumar had returned the ₹5 crore relief announced by Gujarat for the flood-affected in Kosi.
The Prime Minister also asked former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who shared the dais with him, whether he can trust Kumar after he ousted him from the top job in the State, months after having been appointed by him.
“Nobody can trust him after what he did to Jitan Ram Manjhi. People of Bihar cannot trust him,” Modi said.
He said his government was not doing anyone a favour by announcing the package for Bihar. “The government in Delhi is not doing a favour to anyone. This is the right of Bihar and its people, which I am trying to provide unlike in the past. I am fulfilling the responsibility entrusted to me,” he said, adding, “This is not Modi’s money, it belongs to Bihar and its people”.
Holding that Bihar had seen all kinds of ‘isms’ like feudalism, capitalism, separatism and also dynasty rule, he said, “it is time that people of the State should vote for vikasvaad (development).”
Appealing to youth to turn up in large numbers to cast their vote for the NDA in the ensuing Bihar Assembly polls, he said stressing that Bihar’s development was linked to the country’s progress.
Citing a World Bank report on the ease of doing business, he said Bihar continued to lag behind at 27th place among Indian States, unlike Jharkhand which was ruled by BJP after bifurcation, progressed from 29th to 3rd place.
Modi also talked about meeting a delegation of people from Bihar in the US during his recent visit and said they were more worried about changing the fortunes of their home State.