Bihar Dy CM Samrat Choudhary Counters Lalu Prasad’s Claim On Chhath Specials With ‘178 Vs 12,000’ Jibe
The BJP leader claimed Prasad should "feel ashamed" before pointing fingers at the NDA government.
Patna, Oct 25 (PTI) Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Saturday claimed RJD chief Lalu Prasad arranged 178 trains for Chhath Puja when he was the railway minister, while the NDA government has announced over 12,000 special trains for the convenience of people to return home.
Choudhary said the decision to arrange such a huge number of trains was in no way connected to the assembly elections in the state, criticising Prasad, who alleged that people were being forced to return home in "inhumane conditions".
"When you were the railway minister, you arranged only 178 trains for Chhath, but PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar have announced more than 12,000 special trains. Is there any comparison?" he said, responding to Prasad's social media post.
The BJP leader claimed Prasad should "feel ashamed" before pointing fingers at the NDA government.
"When Lalu Prasad was the CM of Bihar, he used to eat fodder, drink pitch, and grab the lands of the poor in lieu of providing them jobs and other entitlements," he alleged, in a tongue-in-cheek comment.
"If anyone is the biggest villain of Bihar, it is Lalu Prasad. He obstructed Bihar's growth for 15 years and pushed it back 20 years. His social media post is a mockery of democracy," he added.
Prasad had accused the Centre of not running adequate Bihar-bound trains to facilitate people to visit their native places during the Chhath Puja, and said these people were "forced to travel in inhumane conditions".
"The uncrowned king of lies and the leader of empty promises had boasted that out of the country's total 13,198 trains, 12,000 would be operated for Bihar on the occasion of Chhath festival. This, too, turned out to be a blatant lie. My fellow Biharis are forced to travel in trains in an inhumane manner," he said in a post on X, sharing a video of passengers travelling in a packed train.
Choudhary claimed that last year the Centre had also run 7,500 trains.
He said that now Tejashwi Yadav, Prasad's son and the INDIA bloc's CM candidate for the Bihar polls, is trying to present himself as the 'nayak' (hero), but he is actually a 'nalayak' (useless).
On Yadav's dig that CM Kumar has been "hijacked" by PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Choudhary said, "If anyone has emerged as the true leader of Bihar after Shri Babu, it is Nitish Kumar. He has worked for the people and ensured social justice." He was alluding to Bihar's first CM, Shrikrishna Sinha.
Choudhary alleged that in the years between their rule, the Congress and RJD "looted Bihar".
"Lalu Prasad made a lot of hollow promises during his rule, but Nitish Kumar has acted on the ground. While Lalu Prasad gave jobs to 94,000 people during his tenure, Nitish Kumar provided employment to 18 lakh people. That is the difference," he claimed.
Choudhary also discarded Yadav's poll promises, including government jobs for each household and financial assistance to female community mobilisers, as impractical.
"RJD during Lalu Prasad was controlled by Sahabuddin, and the party under Tejashwi is being controlled by the gangster's son. Nothing has changed," he alleged.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
Related Video
Navi Mumbai Civic Polls: Shiv Sena and BJP to Contest Separately, No Alliance Announced
Top Headlines
