Nitish rebuts Sonia over AMU in state

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, saying a branch of Aligarh Muslim University was being set up in Kishanganj as a state government initiative. HT reports.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, saying a branch of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was being set up in Kishanganj as a state government initiative.

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Rejecting Gandhi's claim that the Centre had approved establishing an AMU branch in the Muslim-dominated district, Kumar said the UPA government had no role in the project.

"It is purely a state government initiative. All the letters on the issue have been exchanged between the state government and the AMU vice-chancellor," Kumar said.

Describing Gandhi's criticism as a political gimmick, Kumar expressed surprise at her scathing attack on his government.

"They are now trying to do politics over education. The state government has already allotted the land. Anybody can find out its status using the RTI."

On Gandhi's allegation that there was rampant corruption in Bihar and crores of rupees provided under central schemes were siphoned off, Kumar said the Congress chief should instead look into the corruption in Commonwealth Games.