"Only Advertising, Delivering Speeches": Nitish Kumar Hits Out At Centre

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hit out at the Centre alleging that the government is "only doing advertising" while also adding that only "one-sided" things are published from the national capital.

"These days the government at the Centre is only doing advertising. Only one-sided meaningless things from Delhi get published. Nothing has happened other than advertising," Nitish Kumar said.

Stating that he will commence a visit to various parts of the state from January 5 next year, Mr Kumar took a swipe at the Central government and said that he will listen to people's grievances "unlike merely delivering speeches" about one's accomplishments.

"I will be visiting various places from January 5 onwards and will see how much work was done and how much is yet to be done. We'll listen to and understand people's grievances unlike visiting places and merely delivering speeches that 'we've done this and that'," the Chief Minister said.

Further talking about the decreasing trend in the fertility rate in Bihar, Mr Kumar said that the government aims to bring it to 2.0.

"Girls are being educated and fertility rate is decreasing to 2.9 from 4.3. We have to bring it to 2.0. Many say that restrictions must be put on having more than two children in the family. Why do they speak such nonsensical things, does it have any meaning?" he said.

"If girls are educated then there will be such a situation (of families having two children) and we are educating girls in the state," Mr Kumar added.

Earlier today, Nitish Kumar said that the JD(U) has no problem with Rahul Gandhi's candidature as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, adding that the decision will be taken once the Opposition parties get down to the talking table.

"We have no problem with it ... When all (opposition) parties sit together and talk, then we will decide on everything," Nitish Kumar said.

When asked about the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Opposition's participation in it, the Chief Minister said that it is a programme of the Congress party and the JD(U) will decide its further course of action.

"It is a program (Bharat Jodo Yatra) related to their (Congress) party ... Later, when we talk, we will decide what needs to be done," he said.

The remarks of the Chief Minister came after Rahul Gandhi emphasized on the need for the Opposition to have a central ideological framework.

"The opposition needs a central ideological framework that only Congress can provide but our role is also to make sure that opposition parties feel comfortable," Rahul Gandhi said.

"If the opposition stands effectively with a vision, what I hear from the ground, it will become very difficult for BJP to win the elections. But the opposition has to coordinate properly and the opposition has to go to the people with an alternative vision," the Congress leader added.

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