Bihar Smart Meter: A fresh war of words has erupted between the ruling JD(U) and the Opposition RJD over the installation of 'smart meters' in Bihar. In the latest barb, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal called Tejashwi Yadav "shameless".
Tejashwi Yadav earlier attacked the Nitish government over the issue of smart meters. He said that the 'smart meters' were actually "smart cheaters".
"In Bihar, smart cheaters have been installed instead of smart meters. From October 1, the Rashtriya Janata Dal will embark on a protest against the irregularities in smart meters and rising electricity bills," he said.
Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha on Saturday hit back at Tejashwi Yadav's graft allegation, saying the former Deputy CM was experienced in corruption. "They are experienced individuals who understand every aspect of corruption. They have knowledge and experience from their time in power, during which anti-corruption campaigns were also conducted vigorously." He further said: "Smart meters were introduced in Bihar to prevent electricity theft, similar to how prepaid mobile services work. If there is any deficiency, it's the responsibility of the representatives to report them. The government will seriously accept and rectify any problem."
BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal said that these [RJD] were "shameless people". "When they were in power, smart meters were not visible at that time. When they are in power, they forget everything," he said.
Health and Agriculture Minister Mangal Pandey said the RJD didn't care about Bihar. He said, "What does Tejashwi Yadav do besides tweeting? They have no concern for Bihar, nor do they understand its issues. They are irritated by the very mention of development. Whenever the government does development work in any field, he finds shortcomings. When the central government gave Rs 60,000 crore to Bihar in the Budget, these people were furious. They boycotted the House. Their job is just to tweet."