By Gaurav Sharma, IANS,
Purnia (Bihar) : Contrary to the rosy pictures being painted of Bihar’s economic rise, the reality is that shoddy implementation of government schemes has led to anger among the people, a BJP MP in the state who is part of the ruling alliance says.
The frustration is particularly acute among the young, Uday Singh told IANS here, adding that both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and deputy Sushil Modi were overlooking the undercurrents in Bihar.
The second time MP from Purnia said that there was so much frustration that he would not be surprised if a section of youth takes to guns one day.
Uday Singh’s stinging comments are a rare criticism of the Nitish Kumar regime which has won praise for the apparent turnaround of Bihar since he took power six years ago.
Uday Singh, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in alliance with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U), disputed Nitish Kumar’s claims.
The feisty MP had organised a “Vedna (Anguish) Rally” here Sep 30 where many of the over 100,000 people who thronged it voiced their ire against the government.
The rally left the BJP red-faced. Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur, otherwise himself a man who does not hide his feelings, said Singh’s rally had embarrassed the party.
Singh laments that for the past two years, widespread corruption had become a roadblock to economic development.
He did not even spare Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who is from the BJP.
“Nitish Kumar and Modi are in deep slumber and just seeing the rosy picture of Bihar. It’s high time they listened to people,” the MP said while at his Purnia residence.
Singh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and again five years later.
He warned that the popularity of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would take a hit if the state does not check cancerous corruption.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at [email protected])