Lalu derailed Bihar when in power: Congress
October 19th, 2010 - 1:00 am ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Oct 18 (IANS) In a no-holds barred attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, the Congress Monday said he had “derailed” Bihar during his party’s 15 years in power, but he was unable to do the same with the railway ministry as the central government system was strong.
“We respect Lalu-ji personally. But he derailed Bihar in 15 years,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.
Referring to Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Railway Minister in the first United Progressive Alliance government, Tewari said the RJD chief was unable to “derail” the ministry and do its “Bihari karan” as the systems in the central government are very strong.
He said that Nitish Kumar government was making claims about high growth rate as the state’s statistical base was very low.
He said despite the claims of the Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government, there was “no indication of improvement of quality of life on the ground”.
Tewari said Lalu Prasad was on test and “needs to answer why he took the state to such abysmal depths” that even marginal improvement was being tom-tomed by the state government.
Asked about the Congress support to the RJD government in Bihar, Tewari said it was due to polarisation of politics between “communal and secular forces” that happened in the nineties.
Tewari said he did not see the possibility of a post-poll alliance. He said the party’s morale was high and it was getting good support of the people.
Tewari targeted Nitish Kumar for his criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the use of central funds by the state government.
“We are the opposition party in Bihar and it is our responsibility to ask from the state government whether the money was spent on development,” he said.
Tewari also quoted figures to say that Bihar got more than double the funds under the United Progressive Alliance government than it received during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
The first phase of assembly polls in Bihar will be held Oct 21.
- NDA won't win in Bihar: Lalu Prasad - Sep 20, 2010
- RJD paves way for tie-up with Congress in Bihar - Oct 18, 2010
- RJD to project Lalu Prasad as CM candidate - Aug 16, 2010
- We will take special status for Bihar: Nitish Kumar - Aug 27, 2011
- Lalu confident of forming government in Bihar - Nov 21, 2010
- Poll panel should organise debates between leaders: Advani - Oct 29, 2010
- Lalu plans protest against Bihar government - May 28, 2012
- In Bihar, RJD leaders feel need for tie-up with Congress - Oct 22, 2010
- Lalu attacks Nitish over Modi handshake (Lead) - May 06, 2012
- Special status must for Bihar's development: Nitish Kumar - Mar 14, 2011
- Political war gets personal in poll-bound Bihar - Oct 10, 2010
- Congress, RJD trying to confuse voters. says Nitish Kumar - Sep 21, 2010
- Lalu to march to Bihar's villages 'to expose' Nitish - May 14, 2012
- Lalu congratulates Nitish, but not BJP - Nov 24, 2010
- Nitish Kumar's alliance heads for victory in Bihar (Second Lead) - Nov 24, 2010
Tags: alliance government, bharatiya janata party, bihar, congress president sonia gandhi, congress spokesman, congress support, government system, lalu prasad, manmohan singh, marginal improvement, opposition party, party alliance, poll alliance, post poll, power congress, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, progressive alliance, railway minister, secular forces