Nitish Kumar lacks the stature to debate with Sonia Gandhi, says Mukul Wasnik

Union minister for social justice and empowerment and Congress party in-charge Bihar affairs Mukul Wasnik today said that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar "lacked the stature" to enter into a debate with Congress president Sonia Gandhi over Central assistance to Bihar.

Reacting to Kumar's challenge to Sonia Gandhi for a debate over the Centre's financial assistance to Bihar during the rule of the Manmohan Singh government, Wasnik and BPCC president Mehboob Ali Kaiser said "the Bihar CM lacked the stature to have a debate with AICC president."

"A simple Congress worker is educated enough to give detailed reply to the queries of Bihar CM over financial assistance provided by the UPA government...there is no no need to involve the AICC president to reply to the allegations of Kumar about Centre's step motherly treatment towards Bihar so far as its development is concerned," the Union minister said.

Wasnik said if Kumar had enough evidence that Centre was not cooperating with the Bihar government in taking up measures to develop the state, then Kumar should come out with a "white paper" against the Centre.

The Centre would come with specific replies to the "white paper", Wasnik said adding the Nitish Kumar government had failed to submit the utilisation certificate of several thousands of crores to take up developmental measures.