Patna, Dec 17 (PTI) The Bihar government on Tuesday announced that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will embark on a state-wide tour from next week, with a view to reviewing the progress made in different parts of the region.
According to a communication issued by the cabinet secretariat department, the ‘Pragati Yatra’ will commence from Valmiki Nagar, a remote town in West Champaran district and located along the India-Nepal border, on December 23.
The development evoked a caustic statement from Tejashwi Yadav, Kumar’s former deputy and the current leader of the opposition, who alleged that the longest-serving CM had grown “mentally unstable” and was, therefore, "frequently changing the name of his programmes”.
The allusion was to the ‘Mahila Samvad Yatra’ which was to begin this month and, according to Yadav, it would have cost more than Rs 225 crore to the state exchequer.
Moreover, Yadav’s father Lalu Prasad, the RJD chief and archrival of Kumar, had also recently remarked that the chief minister intended to “ogle at women” during the proposed public outreach programme, drawing flak from the ruling NDA.
Officials maintained that the ‘Mahila Samvad Yatra’, aimed at showcasing the government’s efforts at empowering women, who have since been the most loyal voters of the JD(U) supremo, was still under consideration.
“But, the CM might not be present everywhere during the ‘Mahila Samvad Yatra’, of which the schedule will be made public in due course. He may ask his ministers to do the needful at many places,” the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The ‘Pragati Yatra’ will cover the districts of East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Muzaffarpur before its “first leg” concludes on December 28 at Vaishali.
It will be marked by “tour of the area for inspection of schemes” and “district level review meetings with officials”, with ministers concerned expected to be in attendance.
Kumar, who turns 74 in a few months form now, will be running for his fifth term in office in the assembly polls due in less than a year. His tenure has been marked by a number of similar public outreach programmes.
However, Yadav, who has been calling his former boss “a tired leader who deserves to retire”, came out with a strongly worded statement demanding that the chief minister disclose the outcome of his previous “yatras”.
He alleged that “billions are splurged on the air travel and refreshments of the CM and his entourage” during such programmes, which serve as an opportunity for the bureaucracy to indulge in “loot”.
Yadav also reminded Kumar of a “yatra” he took out a few years ago to galvanise public support in favour of the state’s prohibition law and asked “will there be a review of the failure of the ban on liquor, which is evident from alcohol being delivered to people’s homes, and bootleggers having formed a nexus with the police?”
The former deputy CM also spoke of the ‘Samadhan Yatra’ that Kumar had undertaken last year, while he was with the RJD-helmed ‘Mahagathbandhan’, and alleged “contrary to claims, no solutions to the problems raised by local representatives have been offered”.
“The chief minister, during such tours, rarely listens to anybody except his favourite bureaucrats. When he addresses the public, he indulges in a monologue characterised by repetition of the things he has been saying since long,” claimed Yadav.