Stating that the Centre has "expertise in renaming" schemes, Bihar Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary alleged that the Union government has reduced its share in funding education from 90 per cent to 60 per cent.
"The central government has expertise in renaming schemes. Earlier in the education department, the centre used to contribute 90 per cent, then 75 per cent, and now it has been slashed to 60 per cent. Not only that, the Centre announced to rename Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, an integrated scheme for school education, funded by the Centre and the states. It has also announced to decrease its share in the scheme by five per cent every year," Janata Dal-United leader Vijay Chaudhary told ANI Thursday.
Likewise in Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), earlier the Centre has reduced its share to 60 per cent from the earlier's 100 per cent, he claimed.
Bihar's Finance Minister further alleged that the Centre has also stopped scholarships for minorities. But the Bihar government has decided to give such scholarships at its own expense, he said.
Reacting to the Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal's statement that one man rules over the regional area, Finance Minister said that it is well-known who is running the central government and the BJP.
"Under the leadership of that one man, Chief Ministers in BJP-ruled states are getting changed like clothes. Everyone knows which party has the most dictatorship, even Sanjay Jaiswal himself knows this," he added.
Batting for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's repeating demand of granting special status to Bihar, the JD(U) leader Chaudhary said that there is nothing wrong with it.
"Nitish Kumar is asking for more help, so what is wrong with it? The demand for special assistance and the demand for special status is being made so that Bihar can accelerate the pace of development. Bihar's achievement is even better than the national average achievement," he said.
Mr Chaudhary further supported Kumar for asking party leader Upendra Kushwaha to quit the JD(U).
"Upendra Kushwaha should go quickly wherever he wants to go," Mr Chaudhary said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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