Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
Citing the latest NITI Aayog report showing Bihar as the fastest growing state in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) clocking a growth rate of 17.06 per cent in 2014-15, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said it has proved BJP leaders "wrong" on their claims about the state's development made during the Assembly poll.
"Our rivals blamed us for slowing of development and development coming to a halt in recent times...we had answered their accusations with figures during election...the publication of data (in Niti Ayog report) has proved the blame as rootless," Mr Kumar told reporters.
"Our stand has been vindicated," he said.
"We have been saying all along that Bihar has been moving ahead with the motto of development with justice," an elated Chief Minister said reacting to the latest report of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.
According to the report published first by domestic rating agency Brickwork, Bihar's growth rate of 17.6 per cent was in terms of gross state domestic product (GSDP).
It was followed by Madhya Pradesh at 16.86 per cent and Goa at 16.43 per cent.
Mr Kumar said they had strongly contested the report published during elections on the ease of doing business (which had put Bihar at the bottom and Gujarat and other BJP ruled states on top).
"The report had come without seeking data from the state during elections to 'insult and defame' Bihar...everything will be clear slowly and gradually," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP and NDA leaders had attacked Nitish Kumar on the development issue during election campaigning.
The PM's assertion at an election rally that while BJP ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had come out of the "BIMARU Raj" tag, Bihar could also achieve it if a BJP government was formed in the state was strongly contested by Nitish Kumar.
Buoyed by the NITI Aayog latest report, Mr Kumar said, "Our efforts will be to continue with the good performance... development has picked speed and there is no chance of it stopping."