With Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi almost queering the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance’s pitch in poll-bound Bihar with his fiery speeches, chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar on Wednesday stepped up his attacks on the Congress over Mr Gandhi’s charges about the misuse of central funds in Bihar.
An apparently angry Mr Kumar asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi to explain what extra generosity the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had shown towards Bihar. “What Bihar got as central funds was part of the routine distribution of funds to the states. Bihar got no additional central funds apart from its due share from central taxes and the mandatory allocations made by the Planning Commission,” said Mr Kumar.
Refuting frequent claims made by the Congress and recently voiced by Mr Gandhi in his two public meetings in Bihar that the UPA government gave Bihar far more funds than the previous NDA government under Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had, Mr Kumar said, “These are utterly illogical claims. The rise in GDP over the years has caused this natural rise in allocation to the states because of the Centre’s rising gross budgetary support.”
Central assistance to the states during the UPA government has been, in fact, lower by 23 per cent than what it was during the NDA government, claimed Mr Kumar.
“The `1,000 crores the Centre gave to Bihar as aid during the Kosi floods of 2008 cannot be described as a favour,” Mr Kumar added.