Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday alleged PM Modi was taking false credit for opening AIIMS in Darbhanga. (file)
A day after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's "politics of development" jibe at Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav over the construction of a new AIIMS in in the north Bihar district of Darbhanga, the latter today hit back with an "invisible development" retort.
Mr Mandaviya had on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Tejashwi Yadav, and asked him to provide "proper place for construction" adding that the Modi government does not do politics in development but does politics of development.
"What kind of invisible politics of development is this where the Ministry of Health has not yet finalised the site for AIIMS, and the respected Prime Minister is saying that AIIMS has been opened there?" Mr Yadav tweeted.
Tejashwi Yadav, who holds the health portfolio in the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government, on Saturday alleged PM Modi was taking false credit for opening AIIMS in Darbhanga and accused him of lying to the people. He also accused Mansukh Mandaviya of not responding to the letter or requests over the matter.
"In the month of June, we talked to the Union Health Minister on the telephone, requested him to approve it and also wrote a letter with hope, but till date no positive action has been taken. #Bihar," Tejashwi Yadav said in his tweet.
Responding to the attack on the PM in a series of tweets, Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Modi government's intention was clear and the permission for AIIMS was given in 2020.
"Dear Tejashwi ji, the Modi government does not do politics in development but does politics of development. Our intention is clear. The permission for AIIMS Darbhanga was given by the Modi government on September 19, 2020 and the first land was given by the Bihar government on November 3, 2021. After this, you came to the government and changed this place on April 30, 2023 while doing politics. The expert committee inspected the land to check the land according to the rules", he said.
Tejashwi Yadav today pointed out that the state health minister in the time period Mr Mandaviya was describing was from the BJP itself. "Perhaps you are pointing out their failure," he said.
"The Bihar government has transferred 151 acres of land free of cost to the centre at a better location like Shobhan Bypass, in which the state government is also bearing an additional expenditure of 300 crores for earth filling," Mr Yadav said, adding that they have selected the "most suitable place" so that Darbhanga and other districts get its full benefits.
"...unfortunately the approval of the Center has not been received yet," he added.
Mr Mandaviya also posted a May 26 letter from the union government, flagging concerns on the alternate site proposed by the Bihar government, calling it "not suitable" for the construction of AIIMS.
"You tell me why the land was changed, in whose interest was it changed?", he had said.
Tejashwi Yadav in his tweet today claimed that the Bihar government is constructing a 2,500-bed super-speciality hospital, with a modern building, and a residential complex, with a total expenditure of Rs 3,115 crore, at a medical college and hospital established in 1946 in Darbhanga itself.