This is the first time that Nitish Kumar has welcomed the Bihar package. (PTI photo)
A month after he won a new term as Bihar chief minister and hours before he headed to Delhi for his first visit since his big win, Nitish Kumar, on Tuesday, finally said, "thank you," to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the
1.25 lakh crore in central aid he had announced for the state just before assembly elections were held.
Mr Kumar was replying to the motion of thanks on the Governor's Address in the Bihar Legislative Assembly when he said, "I welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi's package for Bihar of Rs 1.25 lakh crore with additional investment of Rs 40,000 crore for running projects... from here onwards I would like sincere implementation of the package." He also suggested that an all-party committee headed by the Speaker be set up to monitor the development schemes for which the PM announced funds.
This was the first time that Nitish Kumar welcomed the package; in the pitched election battle that he fought against PM Modi and his BJP, he repeatedly criticised it as old wine in a new bottle, alleging that most of the schemes that the PM announced were existing plans being
re-packaged with an eye on the elections.
He said he was skeptical about the package reaching the people of Bihar and also criticised the manner in which the PM dramatically made the announcement
likening it to an "auction."A few days later,
Mr Kumar too had announced a development package of Rs 2.7 lakh crore to top the PM's Bihar package.
The BJP is yet to react to Mr Kumar's belated thank you. In its election campaign it had branded the chief minister as ungrateful for not thanking the PM for the financial package, which state BJP leaders were confident would give the party a huge advantage in the Bihar elections.
The BJP and its regional allies could however win only 58 of Bihar's 243 seats. In a crushing win, the Nitish Kumar-led Grand alliance, which includes Lalu Yadav's RJD and the Congress, has won 178 seats.
In Delhi, Nitish Kumar is expected to attend the wedding reception of Union Finance Minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley's daughter.