"Give Credit To Government, Not Your Parties": Nitish Kumar To Ministers

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday voiced disapproval of members of his cabinet using achievements of the government to bolster the image of their respective parties.

The leader from the seven-party Mahagathbandhan made the remarks at a function during which he unveiled electricity projects worth nearly Rs 14,000 crore on the occasion of the 11th foundation day of Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited.

The function was attended, among others, by Power Minister Bijendra Yadav who belongs to the chief minister's Janata Dal (United) and Alok Mehta, a top leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal who holds the key Revenue and Land Reforms portfolio.

Without pointing towards anyone in particular, Mr Kumar said, "I notice that many of my ministers, in their bid to grab headlines, end up giving credit for the government's good work to their own parties. This is not appropriate."

"Whenever I mention any good work done in Bihar I do not speak of it as my personal achievement. Similarly, all the ministers should take care to remember that they must give credit to the government as a whole and not reserve their praise for their parties," he said.

Apart from the JD(U) and RJD, the state cabinet has a couple of ministers from the Congress. Mr Kumar had joined the multi-party coalition last year, snapping his partnership with the BJP.

The opposition often claims that the Mahagathbandhan suffers from a lack of adequate trust among constituents, pointing out that ministers from the JD(U) and RJD sing paeans only to Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, respectively.

In his speech, Mr Kumar also showered effusive praise on Bijendra Yadav, his seniormost minister, who has held the power portfolio for close to two decades.

"He said in his speech that having served for close to 20 years, he is unsure of how long he is going to continue. Let me declare that he will work for us as long as I am in command. If he declines, I will give up everything and run away," the chief minister said.

"Just look at the improvement in the power situation under his watch. It used to be pathetic even in Patna. I used to receive complaints from my in-laws that they got only eight hours of electricity in a day. He changed it all," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)