Patna,(BiharTimes): On the concluding day of the Budget Session of the state Assembly on Monday the opposition BJP forcefully raised the issue of Badh Chala Bihar compelling chief minister Nitish Kumar to strongly defend the campaign launched a few months before the election last year.

Intervening on the IPR&D Minister in-charge Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh’s reply to a Starred Question by the BJP MLA Sanjay Sarogi over the expenditure and related facts about the campaign he said the Bihar@2025 Vision Document would guide successive governments in framing policies and programmes for development of the state.

The chief minister was in his chamber inside the Assembly during Question Hour watching the live telecast of the proceedings. When Sarogi put up the question, Nitish walked in to the Assembly to intervene.

He said the moment this innovative campaign was launched last year the BJP raised a ruckus and went to the Election Commission and challenged it in the Patna high court.

Asking the BJP legislators to explain the budget on advertisement in other states ruled by the saffron party the chief minister said the Badh Chala Bihar campaign has proved to be a unique experiment as the state government has come to know about the expectation of the people from the government on development front.

Flaying the BJP for making the Badh Chala Bihar campaign a political issue Nitish said the inputs collected from the people of 40,000 villages with population of 5,000 or more were being compiled under the Bihar@2025 Vision Document. The state government would release the Bihar@2025 Vision Document and invite the opposition parties to the function in this regard.

BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav tried to make a Point of Order but he was shouted down by the JD(U) MLAs. Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary also disallowed Nand Kishore to speak, saying that the Question Hour was over.

Lalan Singh, in his reply, said the campaign was estimated to cost Rs 14.56 crore but the actual amount paid to the company, Citizens Alliance Pvt Ltd (run by Prashant Kishor) was a little over Rs 9.31 crore.