Gopalganj (Bihar) [India], June 19 : Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his upcoming visit to Bihar, labelling it as political campaigning funded by the state's taxpayers.
Speaking in Gopalganj, Kishor criticised Modi's third visit in two months, alleging a pattern by the NDA-BJP government to use government resources for electioneering.
"Prime Minister is coming here (to Bihar) for the third time in the last two months. Just like we said the last time, this is a set pattern of the NDA-BJP Government that, wherever elections are due, the PM comes there as the government visit and does political campaigning. The same is happening in Bihar as well. We saw this in Madhubani too," Kishor said.
Kishor questioned the use of Bihar's public funds for these rallies, asking why the state's resources were being spent on political events.
"PM is coming here and the expenses that are going into it, whose money is that - that of the Bihar Government, of the people of Bihar. Why are you conducting your political rally with the money of the people of Bihar?" he said.
He urged PM Modi to address Bihar's persistent migration crisis, noting that lakhs of Bihari youth vote for the BJP due to Modi's appeal but are forced to seek work in states like Gujarat.
"People want the PM to tell them when migration from Bihar will stop... It is time to ask PM Modi why factories are set up just in Gujarat and not in Bihar. Why is it only the youth of Bihar who go to Gujarat to labour?" Kishor added, pointing out that the NDA governs both the state and the Centre.
Bihar elections are expected to be held later this year in October or November; however, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not announced an official date.
While the NDA, consisting of the BJP, JD(U), and LJP, will once again be looking to continue their stint in Bihar, the INDIA bloc, consisting of the RJD, Congress, and left parties, will be looking to unseat Nitish Kumar.
In the current Bihar Assembly of 243 members, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) consists of 131 with the BJP having 80 MLAs, JD(U)-45, HAM(S)-4, with the support of 2 Independent Candidates.
The Opposition's INDIA Bloc has a strength of 111 members with RJD leading with 77 MLAs, Congress-19, CPI(ML)-11, CPI(M)-2 and CPI-2.