PM Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar at an event in Bihar last month
A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 1.25 lakh crore package for Bihar, Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, has put out his own version of "thanks but no, thanks" in a series of tweets.
The massive package would not translate to anything more than around Rs 10,000 crore extra, said Nitish Kumar, one of PM Modi's strongest critics.
"..this special package for Bihar announced just before the elections, is nothing but well-conceived packaged myth devised to influence people, manufacture euphoria and create noise without any substance," he said.
Accusing PM Modi of deception, Mr Kumar said the special package was "nothing but a mere repackaging of old schemes, appropriation of pre-approved allocations for the old ones and continued contributions to ongoing schemes."
He said projects worth nearly one lakh crore were a repackaging and appropriation of old schemes and for some new items worth Rs 6000 crore in the package, there was "not even a shred of evidence" of planning or work on the ground.
There was also not a hint of a time frame to the package, the Chief Minister said.
"Indeed an outrageous act of auctioning Bihar&trust of its people," Mr Kumar tweeted.
His reference was to PM Modi's style of announcing the package at a rally, which was likened by critics to the way bids are called out at auctions.
The chief minister is leading a coalition that takes on the BJP in the upcoming Bihar election and has engaged in a bitter battle of words with PM Modi.
On August 18, the prime minister tore into Mr Kumar while announcing the package for Bihar, accusing him of making the people of the state suffer because of his arrogance.