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RJD to launch agitation against Nitish Government

PATNA: With the UPA Government retaining its trust on Tuesday, the RJD has decided to take on the Nitish Kumar led NDA Government in Bihar head on in preparation for the Lok Sabha elections.

State RJD chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui announced the party’s decision to launch an agitation against the Government within and outside the State Legislature, which commences its brief monsoon session on Thursday, to highlight the total collapse of both the basic civic services and education system besides issues of law and order and wreaking political vengeance.

He said that the rains had thoroughly exposed the fraudulent spending of the Nitish Kumar Government on the pretext of construction of roads, leaving the people in utter distress and making the roads of the State capital and other cities a death trap. Mr. Siddiqui charged that many people had died by falling into these ditches.

Mr. Siddiqui demanded that the State Government order an enquiry by a sitting judge of the Patna High Court to look into the manner in which the construction of roads had been handled in the State. He questioned the action of awarding contracts to the blacklisted company, Tantia, and that too in utter violation of rules and monetary considerations.

He criticised Mr. Kumar for seeking to shift the headquarters of Alinagar block in Darbhanga district to Mohiuddinpakri under his assembly constituency. The RJD would be focusing on the serial killings rampant across the State, particularly the State capital. He also questioned Mr. Kumar’s secularism pointing out that he, as a cabinet minister in the NDA, was responsible for the raids conducted on Darul Uloom Deoband and stopping the construction of hostels for minorities on the ground that they would turn into training camps of the ISI.

Mr. Siddiqui said that Mr. Kumar’s role as Railway Minister during the Godhra incident and Gujarat riots was no secret and he was now trying to claim credit for the compensation the UPA Government had announced for the Bhagalpur riots. “If he was so concerned for the minorities why was it that he had not impressed upon the NDA to dole out a similar package during its tenure?”

The RJD leader accused the Chief Minister of indulging in double speak, pointing out that he had not cared to get even one district of Bihar or Jharkhand included in the 100 backward districts which had been taken up for special treatment by the NDA Government then.

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