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Bihar BJP chief’s FB post sets off war of words in NDA
PATNA
PATNA
Spread of Coronavirus pandemic has once again brought the differences within the NDA to the fore in Bihar, which if all goes well, will go to polls later this year.
Top state BJP leaders, including state unit president, have raised serious questions over the style of functioning of the state government.
On the contrary, BJP’s alliance partner, the JD (U) has defended the “Nitish Model” of dealing with lockdown as the most effective.
The latest spark flew after BJP’s Bihar president put out a post on his Facebook and questioned state government’s “lacklustre approach” in dealing with migrant issue. “The problem with Bihar government is that none of their officials clarify before the media as to which types of shops will open in which zone or which train is coming to Bihar and where to get registered. As a result of state government’s attitude, people are posting on social media whatever they want. The state government should take lessons from Yogi government in UP. UP chief secretary briefs media very well,” Jaiswal, the West Champaran MP, said in his post.
The BJP state president’s post, coming at the time of pandemic, has caused ripples in NDA with many BJP leaders questioning the timing of such statements. Only on Saturday, the state government had issued clarifications on reports that nodal officers are incommunicado and released fresh helpline numbers. The state government also announced details of trains which would be coming with migrants and students.
A section of BJP leaders, led by MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav, tried to do the damage control by praising CM Nitish Kumar. “There is no better CM in country than Nitish Kumar,” he said and refused to draw parallels with UP CM Yogi. “I do not know anything about Yogi government’s work. He is a better CM, that is why BJP is supporting him,” he said.
The JD (U) came out in defence of Kumar and said that the Bihar CM does not believe in “populist measures.’
“Bihar didn’t commit the mistakes which states like UP or Punjab did. Bihar’s CM measures have been more protective, more answerable than his counterparts of UP and Punjab. Had he not adhered to the centre’s guidelines, the numbers of positive cases would have been more,” argued JD (U) national principal general secretary, K C Tyagi. “Bihar model has saved Bihar,” he added and said that every party has the right to place its view.
Jaiswal’s barb has given the opposition another opportunity to attack the Nitish government.
RJD spokesperson Bhai Birendra said the government needed to reply on the issue raised by the BJP president. “When we raised the issue, it irked JD (U) leaders. We had been demanding extraction of students but the Nitish government turned it down citing lockdown norms,” he said.
Leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said that the state government has no definite action plan to bring people stuck in different states. “The nodal officers have switched off their mobile phones or cannot be reached. The state government is also charging tickets from migrants,” he said.
