Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar addresses a press conference in Patna on Tuesday. (PTI photo)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has questioned not just Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mega package for Bihar, but also the way he announced it today.
"As if he was bidding for Bihar," said Mr Kumar, who goes head to head with PM Modi's BJP in the Bihar elections due by November.
The Prime Minister had dramatically promised
Rs 1.25 lakh crore in central funding for Bihar at a function in Ara. "How much should it be - 50,000 crore, 60,000, 70,000, 75,000, 80,000?" the PM asked, before announcing his Bihar package to thunderous applause.
He also attacked Nitish Kumar, saying, "On the one hand, he says Bihar is not
BIMARU (backward), and on the other, he keeps asking for something or the other." The reference was to the chief minister's consistent demand for special category status for Bihar to help develop the state.
Ahead of assembly elections, the BJP assesses that it has stolen Nitish Kumar's thunder with today's announcement.
"We don't know when we will get all the money anyway," the chief minister said dismissively. He has emphasised that "special assistance is our right and not a favor."
Mr Kumar, in his rebuttal of PM Modi's many charges against him in his two speeches in Bihar today, also noted, "He said I go as a beggar to Delhi. How can I be both a beggar and arrogant?"
The charge of arrogance was levelled at Mr Kumar by PM Modi at an election rally in the afternoon, when he recalled how the chief minister had rejected aid for floods from Gujarat of which he was then chief minister.
The political rivalry between the two leaders pre-dates the acrimonious divorce of their parties two years ago. The 17-year alliance was called off by Nitish Kumar when it became clear that the BJP would project Mr Modi for Prime Minister.
Now, Nitish Kumar is leading a coalition of parties brought together by the common need to defeat the BJP.