PM's Rs 1.25 lakh cr for Bihar is mere repackaging: Nitish

At the best, the so called Rs 1.25 lakh crore package will not provide anything more than Rs 10,368 crore as additional or incremental resource to the state, said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said at least Rs 1.08 lakh crore or 87 per cent of the special package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi "with an intent to win Bihar elections" was a "mere repackaging of old schemes".

"...At the best, the so called Rs 1.25 lakh crore package will not provide anything more than Rs 10,368 crore as additional or incremental resource to the state. This too in the absence of a defined timeline or disbursement modalities hardly means anything to the state," the chief minister told reporters in the presence of state Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav.

"A close look reveals that against the much hyped claim of Rs 1.25 lakh crore, 87 per cent of the so called special package worth projects is nothing but a mere repackaging of old schemes, appropriation of pre-approved allocations for old ones and continued contributions to ongoing schemes which were announced by various ministries at different point of time in the past," Kumar said.

Moreover, for a few of the new items totalling to the tune of about Rs 6,000 crore in the package, there is not even a shred of evidence of planning or work on ground, he said.

Making a scathing attack on the prime minister for announcing the special package at Arrah "after lots of theatrics like auctioning Bihar", Kumar said after making a detailed study of the "so-called package" he came to the conclusion that "it is nothing but a joke with the state with an intent to win Bihar elections."

Trashing the special package announced during the prime minister's visit to Bihar on August 18 as nothing but "narrate a fairy tale to the people of Bihar," Kumar said it was 'aakro ka mayajaal' (illusion weaved on the basis of statistics).

Refusing to thank the PM for the special package for which he used the idiom "making a mountain out of a molehill", the CM said "by auctioning respect of Bihar, the PM through this illusionary special package has indeed broken faith of the people of the state."

"The bluff of the so-called special package could also be gauged from the fact that despite announcing bonanza of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar, there is no movement seen in the Union finance ministry as from where money would be arranged because they know most of the projects are being carried by PSUs or different ministries out of budgetary allocation and they need not give anything new from its coffer," he said.

Kumar, who has been declared as CM nominee of the grand secular alliance for the Bihar poll, said "we will narrate the truth of the special package in 'Janata ki Adalat' (peoples court)."

Kumar also took a potshot at the Prime Minister over the reservation stir in Gujarat.

"He had claimed to change the face of Bihar with the help of the so-called special package…he should bother about the face of his home state Gujarat burning due to justified agitation of Patels for inclusion in OBC category," Kumar, who had lent support to stir led by Hardik Patel, said.

Giving sector-wise details of the projects included in the special package, Kumar reeled figures to lay bare the "truth of the package". He also posted the details on Facebook and Twitter.

He said 41 National Highway projects have been made part of the special package at an estimated cost of Rs 54,713 crore.

"Out of this, Rs 47,553 crore is previously sanctioned cost and only Rs 7,160 crore is new and incremental budgetary allocation," he said.