With the first phase of the six-phase Bihar Assembly elections set to begin on October 21, the State's stalwart politicians have entered the poll mode in the final run-up to the hustings.
Addressing party workers on the office premises of the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday, Mr. Kumar hit out at the Congress, stating that it was “flagrantly hoodwinking the people” by deliberately “misinforming” them on the amount of funds released by the Centre.
“Every leader from top to bottom in the Congress pecking order keeps parroting the same facts and figures show how generous the Centre has been to Bihar and how the State government is squandering away their precious money,” he said. “Let me remind their chairperson Madam Sonia that the Centre has not done us any favour by giving funds, for it is every State's constitutional right.”
The Chief Minister had recently locked horns with Ms. Gandhi during the JD(U) camp at Rajgir when he sharply criticised her statement that “much of Bihar's development was due to assistance lent by the Centre.”
Mr. Kumar pointed out that the Congress would do well to compare the previous amount in the form of Gross Budgetary Support given to Bihar with the current fund release. “The trouble is that this party [the Congress] works less and jabbers more in this State.
“For all its tall claims of the UPA government having doubled Bihar's share, in actuality the State's quantum of Central funds has declined from 34 per cent during the NDA regime to 23 per cent now,” Mr. Kumar remarked. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had increased now and so had the State's tax receipts.
Commenting on general secretary Rahul Gandhi's latest visit in the State, Mr. Kumar simply said that “everybody had a right to place their arguments before the people.”
On the seat-sharing arrangement with alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr. Kumar said talks were proceeding “normally,” based on “mutual agreement.”
Mr. Kumar's visit comes shortly after his arch-nemesis, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, visited the RJD office on Tuesday evening to discipline workers clamouring for ticket.
