Reacting strongly to the barrage of allegations made by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday shot back at the RJD leaders at the Center saying they were deliberately trying to derail progress in Bihar and were playing cheap, political games at the cost of development in Bihar.
"These people are committing grave injustice to Bihar but deliberately railroading our attempts to extract Bihar from the morass created by their own government that destroyed Bihar in last 15 years. Now these leaders have the nerve to blame the NDA government that has been in power in Bihar for barely over an year. What were they doing for the last 15 years?" Kumar asked.
"They need to spare us from their daily lectures; we don't need it," said Kumar.
Giving an example of the Central government deliberately trying to sidetrack development process in Bihar, the Chief Minister said the Union ministry, for no valid reason, changed the priority of road construction work under National Highway Development Project (NHDP) in Bihar from Group A to Group B.
"By putting an abrupt stop on the construction of 890 kilometer of road in the third phase of the NHDP, the UPA government has made it clear Bihar is not in their agenda. Why don't we see a hue and cry by the RJD leaders at the Center? The reason is simple, these people don't want Bihar to see a developed state for obvious political reasons," and angry Kumar said.
Responding to Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's letters, Kumar said the government would reply to each of his letter but before that he would have to explain what he had been doing at the Center besides running his mouth," the Chief minister said.
"These politicians are annoyed by the fact that Bihar is moving in the direction of development and progress and considering their background and history, it is understandable why they do not want to see a developed Bihar".
(Source-Patna Daily,16/01/07)