Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday showered accolades on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, praising the alliance partner for bringing in good governance in a state which was previously reeling under “jungle raj”.Modi made a veiled attack on the Congress-RJD combine—without mentioning it by name—at a function in Darbhanga, a town in north Bihar, where he laid the foundation stone for an AIIMS and inaugurated projects worth more than Rs 12,000 crore.
In the course of his address, which lasted around 40 minutes, the Prime Minister referred to Kumar, whose JD(U) played a crucial role in enabling the NDA’s return to power in the parliamentary elections earlier this year, as “lokpriya mukhyamantri” (popular chief minister).
Modi said, “Nitish babu has set up a model of sushasan (good governance).” He added, “No praise is too high for him (jitni saraahna ki jaae kam hai) for his contribution in pulling Bihar out of the era of jungle raj. Now, under the NDA’s double engine government, the state is making rapid, all-round progress.”
He also lambasted the previous regimes in the state, ruled by the Congress-RJD combine for 15 years before the NDA assumed power in 2005, for hoodwinking the people with “false (jhoothe) promises”.
Earlier, Kumar had thanked the PM for AIIMS, Darbhanga, even as he recalled having first made request for the super specialty hospital in the north Bihar town with late BJP leader Arun Jaitley.