‘PM Vowed To Alter Bihar’s “Face And Fate” But Only Nitish Kumar’s Alliances Were Changed’: Jairam Ramesh

The Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pledge to provide Bihar with a revolutionary package, claiming that despite his talk of altering the state’s destiny, anything that was changed was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s alliances.

Prior to the prime minister’s rallies in Bihar, Jairam Ramesh, the general secretary of Congress, asked him a number of questions.

“Why has the outgoing PM failed to reopen the Motihari Sugar Mill? Why were ambulances purchased using a BJP MP’s funds caught smuggling alcohol? What happened to the 1.25 lakh crore package the PM had promised in 2015?” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Elaborating on what he said were “jumla details,” he said, “It has been 10 years since the outgoing PM promised that his government would reopen the Motihari Sugar Mill during his 2014 campaign. He had explicitly stated that he would come back to Motihari, and drink chai made with sugar from the long-defunct mill. Maybe this is why he has not gone back in 10 years.”

“Today, when he goes back to Motihari, the people will demand answers. More than 300 former mill workers are still waiting to receive their pending salaries and pensions. The closure of the mill has also triggered a steady decline in Motihari’s economy,” Ramesh said.

Currently serving BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh asserts that the departing prime minister never made any such commitments.

Till when the BJP would deceive the people of Motihari, Ramesh asked. “Will the outgoing PM apologise for his failures before he leaves office on June 4th?” he asked.

Ramesh said that in 2019, the BJP MP from Saran was lauded for using his MP funds to sanction 60 ambulances in his constituency.

“At the peak of the COVID crisis in 2021, however, these ambulances were found to be sitting idle while nearby hospitals faced acute shortages. Then, last September, one of these ambulances was caught smuggling liquor. In 2021, when Congress leader Pappu Yadav exposed the misuse of the ambulances, he was thrown in jail for a 32-year-old case,” Ramesh said.

“Can the outgoing PM tell us what his MP is trying to hide? Why has the BJP government refused to investigate this case?” he said.

“At a rally leading up to Assembly Elections in 2015, PM Modi had declared ‘I am here today to honour my promise… how much do you want? Rs 50,000 crore, 60,000, 70,000, 75,000, 80,000? I am announcing a package of ? 1.25 lakh crore,’ to which his new old ally and then CM Nitish Kumar had responded, ‘was he bidding for Bihar?’ In either case, only Rs 27,000 crore was sanctioned by 2017, after which no updates have been provided on the ‘transformative’ package,” Ramesh claimed.

He remarked that although the PM had pledged to alter the “face and fate” of Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s alliances are the only thing that have changed. He also mentioned that the state’s development indicators are still behind and that the youth of Bihar are still unemployed.

Can the outgoing PM tell us where the remaining Rs 1 lakh crore has disappeared? Is this just another feather in the hat of the Bharatiya Jumla Party?” Ramesh said.

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