Patna: Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday heavily criticised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for being in possession of three palatial government bungalows — two in Patna and one in New Delhi.
Tejashwi the is son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad.
The criticism assumes significance given the fact that most lawmakers in Bihar are currently staying in rented accommodation — amid a shortage of government bungalows.
Most government bungalows have been demolished, and they are expected to be replaced by duplexes.
“Two former chief ministers of Bihar, Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, stay in a single bungalow but our chief minister Nitish Kumar ... is in possession of three palatial bungalows. Who is then greedy now? You should reply,” asked Tejashwi in a tweet.
Tejashwi who served as the deputy chief minister in the previous government questioned the allotment of a bungalow to the Bihar chief minister in Delhi, asking why none of his predecessors were ever given this official accommodation in the past.
“What kind of privacy does he want that Nitish Kumar has got a big bungalow in Delhi despite two others possessions, Bihar Bhwana and Bihar Niwas, already available for him in the national capital?” asked Tejashwi.
The opposition leader also tagged an old letter written by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi who earlier had questioned the chief minister for being in possession of two palatial bungalows in Patna despite staying only with his son.
“Despite pursuing dynastic politics, Lalu Prasad has been staying in a bungalow with his wife [former chief minister] and two minister-sons but why do you need two bungalows although you have been against dynastic politics and stay with your lone son,” was how Modi wrote in his letter to the chief minister in June 2016 while Kumar was heading the Grad Alliance government in Bihar and the BJP was in the opposition.
RJD chief Prasad’s two sons were ministers in the then Grand Alliance government.
As of now, however, the chief minister has dumped the Grand Alliance to form his new government with the opposition BJP in Bihar.
Kumar has said the bungalow in Delhi has been allotted to the chief minister, and not to any individual.
