Speaking before the Prime Minister, Nitish Kumar said: “I have a personal request for the PM. When he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, I went to his state as railways minister. He should see to the completion of the Daniawan-Bihar Sharif rail project that should have begun much earlier.”
Referring to the previous BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee till 2004, Mr Kumar said: “If a decision had not been taken at the time to hold elections six months before schedule, then the project would have started in 2004.”
PM Modi responded: “I agree with Nitish ji. The work that would have been completed during the Vajpayee government is being completed now. The rail work would have been completed if Vajpayee remained in power. He was railways minister then. I share Nitish Kumar’s pain. Bihar suffered because of politics.“
He went on to address the Chief Minister’s demand for a special package for Bihar, saying that he would keep his promises and announce a big package soon, just not today. “I had promised to give a 50,000 crore package to Bihar. I will keep my promise and go even further,” he said.
Nitish Kumar has been one of Narendra Modi’s sharpest critics and severed ties with the BJP in 2013 over the projection of Mr Modi as prime ministerial candidate.
As PM Modi arrived in Bihar this morning to launch his party’s campaign, Nitish Kumar challenged him in a tweet with seven questions, commenting he was “grateful” that the PM took time to visit Bihar after 14 months. “I am raising 7 critical issues-2 specific to Bihar and 5 that in my view people across India want to hear from the Prime Minister,” Mr Kumar tweeted.
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