Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday criticised Opposition legislators after they did not raise their hands when he asked all MLAs to do so in acknowledgement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contributions to the development of the state.
Responding to the Governor’s speech in the Assembly, Nitish thanked PM Modi and asked all legislators to raise their hands to show gratitude to the PM. While all NDA legislators obliged, the Opposition did not do so. At this point, he turned to the Opposition and asked, “Why don’t you people, too, raise your hands to say thanks to the PM for whatever he has done for Bihar? When I was with you, you would listen to my advice. I worked with you twice, but will never align with you.”
The CM also elaborated on his achievements over the last 20 years, and said the government was working to create 1 crore jobs in the coming five years.
Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was not present in the House. In his absence, Bodhgaya MLA Kumar Sarvajeet represented the RJD and responded to CM, saying, “The CM confuses us. When he was with us, he used to talk about how the BJP was a threat to the Constitution. Now he is asking us to hail the PM. Which of the two things should we hold true?”
Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Samrat Choudhary of the BJP responded on behalf of the government and addressed recent criticism from the Opposition for allegedly “removing hutments of the poor”, for which he was also called “Bulldozer Baba”. Choudhary said, “I am not Bulldozer Baba. We have been working as per the instructions of the courts to remove illegal encroachment. The land mafia has reasons to be afraid… Bihar runs through Nitish Kumar’s vision. We have the Nitish Kumar model.”
Senior JD(U) leader and Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the Rs 10,000 each given to 1.41 crore women as a first instalment in a scheme to promote women entrepreneurship was not the only reason for the NDA’s landslide victory in the recent Assembly election. “A government is well within its rights to distribute funds under any running welfare scheme. There has been a court ruling on it. The scheme was only one of the immediate reasons for our victory. The thumping majority for us is a reward for what Nitish Kumar has done in the last 20 years… The mandate says Nitish Kumar has a lot more to offer,” he said.
The Assembly session that will conclude on Friday also featured brief speeches of HAM (S) MLA Jyoti Manjhi, RLM MLA Madhav Anand, AIMIM leader Akhtarul Iman and Indian Inclusive Party leader and Saharsa MLA I P Gupta.
