Arun Jaitley counters Nitish Kumar, says 'statistics show Gujarat is No. 1 state, Bihar 21st'
New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday took on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for daring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to debate the issue of development in the state, saying Bihar stood at the 21st position on ease of doing business in a World Bank report, far behind Gujarat which occupied the top slot.
"Nitishji says let us debate the development issue. What is there to debate? This debate is over. Gujarat is number 1 and Bihar stands at 21. The economy speaks through statistics and not through debate," he said, rejecting the demand for such a debate.
Claiming that the chemistry in Bihar has changed ahead of assembly polls, Jaitley said BJP and its allies will win the forthcoming assembly polls.
"We will win Bihar polls. It will be a repeat of what happened during the Lok Sabha election," he said.
Jaitley said that between them, JD(U) and RJD were in power in Bihar for 25 years which amounts to a virtual political era but still Bihar model of development was at the 21st position.
Arun Jaitley also attacked Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad for destroying Ram Manohar Lohia's legacy by aligning with the Congress for Bihar polls.
Taking a swipe at the partners of the grand alliance, he said these leaders who did politics in the name of socialist Lohia, who always opposed Congress, today sit in its office for addressing joint press conferences.
"Those who do politics in the name of Lohia, are now visiting AICC for press conferences everyday. The legacy of Dr Lohia has been destroyed by these people ...," he said, launching BJP's youth wing BJYM's nationwide "Panch Kranti Abhiyan" on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday.
Jaitley also said Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi was given the role of a "warm-up speaker" at a recent rally of the grand alliance and that the opposition party, which was stalling Parliament, will be further eased out in many states.
He said now Congress's position is such that to ensure JD(U) and RJD leaders speak later, the Congress president was given the status of a "warm-up speaker" at the grand alliance rally.
He also said, "Major constituencies were taken away by the other two allies and loose change was left for Congress."
The finance minister said, "In the coming times they (Congress) will be further reduced in many other states. I understand that the situation in Punjab is also turning like this that Congress takes the third spot."
Jaitley said, "Congress' plan is to stall Parliament and not allow good laws to be passed. I would urge people of the country, traders especially those small traders facing problems due to multiple taxes, to make the Congress leadership understand that you do not have any authority to stop the country. The numbers are with us in Parliament and no party is with them, but they do not allow Parliament to function."
The model of a Congress government was that of a company where all powers rest with board of governors and a CEO running it, he said.
"A family ran such a government as it thought it had a divine power to rule over this country. They had this misconception that we have a divine right to rule. Its biggest example was the Emergency," he said.
Jaitley said it was Indira Gandhi who felt that the right to rule rested only with the family and the party gave the slogan 'Indira is India, India is Indira'.
"To ensure that only she ruled, she put an end to democracy in the country," he said.
"The last two governments also when Congress won, 'Dr Sahib' (Manmohan Singh) was kept in the front but the powers were with the family. Now that a majority government has been formed and Congress has been reduced to 44 seats in Lok Sabha, that party is not allowing Parliament to function. It is the same thought that except us no one should rule," he said.
