Patna, Jan 10 (IANS): A day after RJD MLA Vijay Kumar Mandal criticized Nitish Kumar over his ongoing Samadhan Yatra, he changed his version and declared it a development Yatra.
Sources said that Mandal has given a fresh statement on the direction of the RJD's top leadership. The RJD leadership is facing an uneasy situation with Nitish Kumar and the JD-U after former agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh called Nitish Kumar Shikhandi, night watchman and beggar. Hence the RJD has rebuked Mandal for his statement.
"Nitish Kumar is doing development Yatra in Bihar. He and Tejashwi Yadav are strongly running the Mahagathbandhan government in the state," Mandal said.
"My earlier statement on Monday was twisted by the media. Whatever I said was wrongly presented in the media," Mandal added.
Vijay Kumar Mandal, a RJD MLA from Dinara assembly constituency, while interacting with former minister and BJP MLA Jibesh Mishra said that the government of Nitish Kumar is becoming autocratic now and the BJP is responsible for it.
"You (BJP) stayed the maximum time with Nitish Kumar in the government in Bihar, so you are responsible for making his government autocratic. For public welfare, Lohia Ji (Ram Manohar Lohia) said the government and bread (Roti) need to change from time to time. If the government cannot be changed, it becomes autocratic and if we do not flip the Roti during cooking, it burns," Mandal said while interacting with Jibesh Mishra during a morning walk.
Jibesh Mishra on the other hand said that you (RJD and Mahagathbandhan) are responsible for making the Nitish Kumar government autocratic.
Mandal claimed that development in Bihar is below expectations in the last 17 years. The road infrastructure was developed due to the late Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Nitish Kumar is claiming credit for it. Even electricity reaching every village is due to the efforts of the UPA government.
Mandal appealed to Nitish Kumar to keep a check on bureaucrats. Corruption is rampant from the block level to the secretariat in Patna, he alleged.
"The issues of farmers are big in Bihar. If the Nitish Kumar government resolves it during the Samadhan Yatra, it will be a big achievement for him. At present, the financial condition of farmers is not good. They are not getting the MSP for their crops," Mandal said.
Earlier, Sudhakar Singh, the former agriculture minister of Bihar, during his tenure pointed to the massive corruption in his department and blamed Nitish Kumar for it. He also claimed that all employees and officers of the agriculture department were thieves and he was their king.
-