Muzaffarpur:
Amid indications of Congress forming alliance with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for the next general elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal (United) leader said today that the two old partners were coming together again to bring back the "dark" days of poor law and order and misgovernance.
"Who does not know that RJD and Congress shared power in those days when people feared to venture out of home after sunset to avoid getting kidnapped?" Mr Kumar said during his party's 'Sankalp Rally' in Muzaffarpur, about 60 km from Patna.
"Both (RJD and Congress) are equally responsible for 'bad-haali' (bad condition) of Bihar for 15 years," he said, slamming the two parties for their efforts to form alliance for the next Lok Sabha polls.
"Efforts are (being) made to revive the ties to bring back those dark days of poor law and order and misgovernance," he said.
Mr Kumar said after assuming power for the first time in November 25, 2005, he had worked day and night to bring the state back on track in the past eight years.
"Rule of law has been established and people no longer fear to go out of home even late in night. Development work has been taken up," he said, asking people if they would like to return to "the bad days of the past".
Today's 'Sankalp Rally' is third in the series of 12 such rallies planned by the JD(U) to make a commitment before people to continue the fight for winning special category status for the state and not allowing communal forces to triumph.
Making a scathing attack at RJD chief Lalu Prasad, he said the fanfare with which he returned to Patna from Ranchi prison after bail in a fodder scam case made it seem like he had gone to jail for participating in some "freedom movement".
Referring to Lalu Prasad's allegations blaming him for being sent to jail, Mr Kumar said, "CBI is probing the fodder scam case and the court sent him to jail earlier and gave him bail recently... where do I figure in this process?" The Chief Minister attacked the Congress-led Centre for its "delaying tactics" on special package or special category status.
"Despite submission of report of Raghuram Rajan panel which put Bihar in the category of least developed state, the Centre has not acted subsequently," he said.
"Delhi is thinking that we have gone lethargic on the issue. But, they are mistaken," he said and appealed to the people to support his party so that no party or alliance at the Centre could ignore Bihar.
Mr Kumar made it clear that special category status issue would be the main poll plank of JD(U) for the coming polls.
The senior JD(U) leader also hit out at his party's old ally BJP and blamed it for break-up of the 17-year alliance. "Our partnership in NDA was based on the agreement that disputed issues like waiving off Article 370, uniform civil code and Ayodhya dispute will be kept out. But, in recent days, they went back on the promise which forced us to part company for the sake of principles," he said.
Mr Kumar had led his party to break alliance with BJP on June 16 over elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's campaign committee chief.
A large number of state ministers and party MLAs, besides eminent film maker Prakash Jha, were present on the dais.
"Who does not know that RJD and Congress shared power in those days when people feared to venture out of home after sunset to avoid getting kidnapped?" Mr Kumar said during his party's 'Sankalp Rally' in Muzaffarpur, about 60 km from Patna.
"Both (RJD and Congress) are equally responsible for 'bad-haali' (bad condition) of Bihar for 15 years," he said, slamming the two parties for their efforts to form alliance for the next Lok Sabha polls.
"Efforts are (being) made to revive the ties to bring back those dark days of poor law and order and misgovernance," he said.
Mr Kumar said after assuming power for the first time in November 25, 2005, he had worked day and night to bring the state back on track in the past eight years.
"Rule of law has been established and people no longer fear to go out of home even late in night. Development work has been taken up," he said, asking people if they would like to return to "the bad days of the past".
Today's 'Sankalp Rally' is third in the series of 12 such rallies planned by the JD(U) to make a commitment before people to continue the fight for winning special category status for the state and not allowing communal forces to triumph.
Making a scathing attack at RJD chief Lalu Prasad, he said the fanfare with which he returned to Patna from Ranchi prison after bail in a fodder scam case made it seem like he had gone to jail for participating in some "freedom movement".
Referring to Lalu Prasad's allegations blaming him for being sent to jail, Mr Kumar said, "CBI is probing the fodder scam case and the court sent him to jail earlier and gave him bail recently... where do I figure in this process?" The Chief Minister attacked the Congress-led Centre for its "delaying tactics" on special package or special category status.
"Despite submission of report of Raghuram Rajan panel which put Bihar in the category of least developed state, the Centre has not acted subsequently," he said.
"Delhi is thinking that we have gone lethargic on the issue. But, they are mistaken," he said and appealed to the people to support his party so that no party or alliance at the Centre could ignore Bihar.
Mr Kumar made it clear that special category status issue would be the main poll plank of JD(U) for the coming polls.
The senior JD(U) leader also hit out at his party's old ally BJP and blamed it for break-up of the 17-year alliance. "Our partnership in NDA was based on the agreement that disputed issues like waiving off Article 370, uniform civil code and Ayodhya dispute will be kept out. But, in recent days, they went back on the promise which forced us to part company for the sake of principles," he said.
Mr Kumar had led his party to break alliance with BJP on June 16 over elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's campaign committee chief.
A large number of state ministers and party MLAs, besides eminent film maker Prakash Jha, were present on the dais.
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