NEW DELHI: Bihar state assembly on Tuesday witnessed a fiery showdown between chief minister Nitish Kumar and his former deputy Tejashwi Yadav over the state’s infrastructure. During the ongoing budget session, the chief minister claimed that he “made RJD supremo Lalu Yadav what he became” and invoked the past records of the Rashtriya Janata Dal tenure from 1994 to 2005.
As Kumar was making his speech, Tejashwi interrupted him, over which Nitish said, “What was there in Bihar earlier? It was me who made your (Tejashwi Yadav) father what he became. Even the people from your caste were asking me why I was doing this, but I still supported him.”
“We came here on November 24, 2005. I want to say what kind of situation was there at that time. Nobody would go out in the evening. No road was there. I was a minister in the Centre, we had to go to places on foot. There used to be many confrontations in society,” he added.
Earlier during the session, leader of opposition in assembly Tejashwi took a dig at Nitish’s constant criticism of the RJD government and said that ” the world was created after 2005.”
“It was said that there was something before 2005. The world was created after 2005. We should delve a bit into the details and history. It was very necessary to remind them again that all these members were present, and it seemed that the BJP members were present too,” Tejashwi said.
“Vidhan Sabha is the temple of democracy. This current government is engaged in destroying democracy and the Constitution. This is truth and is not hidden from anyone. I believe this is the first time when neither of the two Deputy CMs, leave CM, is here when the LoP is speaking. One must have the courage to listen to the truth.” he added.
Bihar government on Monday unveiled a Rs 3.17 lakh crore budget for the financial year 2025-26, marking a significant 13.6 per cent increase from the previous year’s Rs 2.79 lakh crore allocation.
This budget, presented by deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, is the last budget by the ruling government before the state goes to election at the year end..
The RJD leader said the budget was “the lost opportunity for BJP-led NDA to do something for the people as it is not going to return to power”.
“We had asked the government to announce a monthly stipend of Rs 2,500 for women, 200 units of free power and some other pro-people measures. They would have got the credit but they failed to grab the opportunity. The RJD promises to give these benefits to the people when it forms the next government,” Tejashwi said.