Patna, (Bihar Times): Chief minister Nitish Kumar, on
Wednesday accused the railway minister, Lalu Yadav, of
ringing up industrialist, Mukesh Ambani, while he was
in Patna a couple of months back, and asking him as to
why he did not take interest in Bihar when the
Rashtriya Janata Dal government was in Bihar.
Nitish said that when Lalu phoned Ambani he was
watching the power-point presentation on the
development of the state in Patna.
The chief minister also held the Centre responsible
for the chronic power crisis in Bihar. He also
criticized the Union government notification
prohibiting direct use of cane in the production of
ethanol. Though this notification was issued on the
all-India basis Nitish Kumar felt that this was done
as a part of the central government’s policy to
discriminate Bihar and keep it backward.
According to the chief minister bumper sugarcane
production all over the world last year also kept the
industrialists away from investing in Bihar.
Nitish’s direct accusation of the central government
and Lalu followed a war of words between the ruling
combination and opposition in the state, especially
over the chronic power crisis and that too in winter
when there is generally low consumption of power. The
verbal duel often intensifies when the state face some
severe crisis, for example, flood last monsoon.
Political observers question the delay on the part of
Nitish to attack Lalu on the issue of ringing up
Mukesh Ambani. If the allegation is true it should be
raised earlier, one of them asked.
Comments...
When business atmosphere is not conducive and the development is a lip sympathy, to expect businesses to congregate would be a wishful thinking. There is no surprise that Mr. Ambani stayed away from Bihar. He knew who ruled the State. The corruption was rampant, crime was at its peak and the government was ruled by the profligate people. Yet to ask Mr. Ambani why did not he come to Bihar when Laloo ruled the State is a half-witted question. There is only one answer. The affairs of your regime was so bad that it was beyond the comprehension of rational human beings, Have you forgotten that you sheltered criminals; and the crime was so pervasive that people even did not go out of their homes after dark? Mr. Ambani is ready to invest in New Bihar because he knows that it has very little in common with the Bihar of Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadaw. He is history and so are his shenanigans.