Hajipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday trained his guns on Congress accusing it of "neglecting" Bihar's development since independence and recalled Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's past association with NDA as he inaugurated a number of railway projects here.
"This project was initiated when Nitish Kumar was Railway Minister and Atal ji was Prime Minister. The dream of that time is being realised now."
Nitish Kumar greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival at Bihar (Photo: PTI)
"Had this not been neglected in last 10 years and work been taken up for it even under routine budget, even then it would have been completed in six-seven years," Modi said dedicating to the nation the newly constructed Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge here, which is stated to be the longest in the country.
This was Modi’s first visit to Bihar after assembly election in which NDA lost bitterly last year.
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He rued that the cost of the project escalated from its earlier estimate of Rs 600 crore to Rs 3,000 crore due to the "delay".
"This money belongs to people. Some or the other reasons crop up in our country that the process of development gets derailed," he said.
Leaving aside political rivalry, Modi who has shared a contentious relationship with Kumar in past, also chose the occasion to laud the Bihar Chief Minister's efforts in taking forward Centre's rural electrification scheme in Bihar.
"I am grateful to Nitish ji. Work is progressing with speed in Bihar due to his efforts. If the central government and the Bihar government decisively work, we can finish the work fast and make a proud Bihar," he said.
Kumar had walked out of NDA snapping the 17-year-old ties with BJP over the deemed projection of Modi as prime ministerial candidate of that party in June 2013.
However during the inaugural function the Prime Minister had to wave the public to stop cheering his name while Chief Minister Nitish Kumar addressed them.
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After having lost badly to the Narendra Modi-led NDA in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Kumar staged a comeback in 2015 assembly elections in Bihar in alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD and Congress, decimating BJP.
The Prime Minister, while dedicating the two railway projects termed as important by railway ministry for the development of Bihar said that India can’t think of development by ignoring eastern states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and other North Eastern states and Bihar is the key for the development of this country.
“Eastern India is the nerve Centre of this country so development of eastern states is necessary for development of India”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while dedicating two Ganga railway projects – one between Munger and Khagaria and another one between Digha in Patna and Sonepur in Saran district. He also laid the foundation stone for a rail bridge at Mokamma.
Prime Minister during his twenty minute long speech also said that the process to bring Foreign Direct Investment worth Rs. 40,000 Crore for Bihar has completed. He said, “For eighteen months Bihar has been Centre’s priority and now time has come that state and Centre must move forward shoulder to shoulder for the sake of development”.
"Bihar is a priority for us because we feel Bihar's progress is key to India's progress. This government has spent more for the projects in Bihar in last two and half years than what was spent in five years earlier. This was done because it is my conviction that if India has to progress fast, Bihar's development has to be accelerated," he said.
Without naming Congress, Modi said that electricity has not reached 18,000 villages of the country even after 70 years of independence.
"I told my officers that I have to do this work within 1,000 days, which was not done in last 70 years. One thousand days are yet to completed but electricity has already reached in 6,000 villages. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are going to benefit the maximum from it," he said.
