Singh charged that the Nitish Kumar-led govt has failed to fully implement the centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, aimed at alleviating poverty, and special schemes for minorities in the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took over from where Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi left off in the party’s election campaign for Bihar assembly polls by addressing a rally in Narpatganj, around 250 kilometres northeast of Patna.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is due next; and she will be attracting rallies at Kishanganj and Motihari.
In his speech, Singh charged that the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-government in Bihar has failed to fully implement the centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), aimed at alleviating poverty, and special schemes for minorities in the state.
“We have repeatedly tried to speed up the pace of progress in Bihar in providing basic needs like electricity, roads, and good irrigation facilities. We started giving a special annual package of Rs1000 crore. Since 2004, the Centre has given Rs6000 crore and for 36 districts the Centre is giving special assistance. These funds could have changed the face of the state... power, roads, education could have been given to the needy but the government has not fulfilled its duties,” claimed Singh.
“It is unfortunate to know that the state government is taking credit for the schemes of the central government and their benefits are not reaching those intended,” Singh said at the rally, held in the Muslim-dominated belt of Seemanchal.
Singh blamed the earlier Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) governments and the current Nitish Kumar government responsible for Bihar’s plight and said only the Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, could ensure the state’s all-round development.
He also questioned Nitish Kumar’s secular credentials, saying there are people who project a secular image but hitch up with divisive forces. “There are people who seek to project themselves as secular, but are taking support from those bent upon dividing the country for power,” he said.
Incidentally, the Congress is this time contesting all the 243 assembly seats in Bihar, unlike in the previous few elections where it had chosen to play second fiddle to the RJD. But given the fact that the party managed to win only nine assembly seats five years ago and that its candidates fared poorly in Lok Sabha elections last year, the Congress has put up many newcomers to the party, including some who defected from other parties.
This in turn has been criticised and the Bihar in-charge, Mukul Wasnik, drew flak for the selection process. But the party leadership endorsed the choices, mainly because it really didn’t have much choice. The fact that the “tried and tested” party leaders had failed repeatedly in the past successive elections weighed heavily in the decision-making process.
In the first three phases of the six-phase poll, the party hopes to put up an impressive show. “We shall be a force to reckon with after these elections,” claimed a party general secretary, who is coordinating the campaign effort.
(With agencies inputs)
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