File Photo: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar receives PM Narendra Modi on his arrival in Patna on Tuesday. (Press Trust of India)
In a swipe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi's package for the state, BJP today said that while people there were celebrating the package, the JD(U) leader had chosen to run away to the national capital.
Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said they expected Mr Kumar to appreciate the Rs 1.25 lakh crore package but "he does not seem to have words like welcome and thank you in his dictionary".
Mr Kumar had yesterday rubbished Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election-eve Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package as "repackaging of old projects".
Reacting sarcastically to Mr Kumar's presence at an event organised by Delhi government, Mr Hussain said Mr Modi was going out among people and talking about his works while the JD(U) leader was depending on his meetings with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to defeat BJP.
"He used to equate Bihar with him and so we thought he will at least say after the package was announced that it will help Bihar... But instead he did a press conference to run it down. He does not seem to have words like thank you and welcome in his dictionary.
"Bihar is celebrating and he has run away to Delhi. When was the last time you saw Nitish Kumar among people? He talks about decimating BJP in Bihar. He thinks he can do it by meeting Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal," Mr Hussain told a press conference.
The package announced by the Prime Minister at an official event in Arrah will touch every town in Bihar and put it on the path of development never seen before, he said, adding that the package was not a mere election rhetoric as the Modi Government had gone into details of it and come out with a comprehensive proposal about its expenditure in various sectors.