Patna (Bihar) [India], October 5 : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Mrityunjay Tiwari on Sunday hit out at the NDA government, and said it has failed to bring development to Bihar in the last 20 years.
He stated that no new universities have been established during the NDA's rule and accused the government of having no real achievements to show.
Speaking to ANI, Mrityunjay Tiwari said, "Prime Minister Modi should know that in the 20 years of NDA's double-engine government, not a single new university has been opened. All the universities in Bihar were established during the RJD's tenure... Why is migration happening from Bihar?... These (NDA) people can't even list their achievements..."
A day earlier in Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged that schools were not opened and no recruitment took place under the Congress-RJD regime in Bihar.
He said, "This generation may not realise how devastated the education system in Bihar was two and a half decades ago. Schools were not open, nor were recruitments conducted. Which parent doesn't want their child to study and progress here? But out of compulsion, millions of children were forced to leave Bihar and go to Varanasi, Delhi, and Mumbai. This was the real beginning of the migration."
Further lauding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the NDA government for improving the education system in the state, he added, "fortunately, the people of Bihar entrusted Nitish Kumar with the responsibility of government, and we are all witnesses to how the entire NDA team together brought the deteriorating system back on track".
The Election Commission is expected to announce the dates for the Bihar Assembly polls anytime soon. The review follows the publication of the final electoral roll for the Bihar Assembly elections on September 30, marking the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The electoral battle in Bihar is largely anticipated to be a direct contest between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the Mahagathbandhan, spearheaded by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the NDA currently holds 131 seats -- BJP 80, JD(U) 45, HAM(S) 4, and two Independents -- while the Mahagathbandhan holds 111 seats, comprising RJD 77, Congress 19, CPI(ML) 11, CPI(M) 2, and CPI 2.