Source – indiatoday.in
Bihar Chief Minister and Janta Dal United President Nitish Kumar has said that the capital will come to a halt if immigrants from Bihar stop working.
He criticised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s statement that people from Bihar come to the capital for free treatment. “Delhi belongs to all, it was an absurd statement,” he said addressing party workers at a meeting in Badarpur to kickstart preparations for assembly polls.
“If people from Bihar stop working then Delhi will come to a halt,” Nitish Kumar said.
He came down heavily on political opponents for not recognising the contribution of immigrants from Bihar to Delhi’s progress. He took on Kejriwal for his jibe that people from Bihar board a Rs 500 train for Rs 5 lakh treatment in the capital.
He said that the Aam Admi Party (AAP) Government has failed to provide basic infrastructure to residents of Delhi.
“A large population of Delhi still lives in unauthorised colonies, Government should run a campaign to provide relief,” he said. “There is no safe drinking water for people, Delhi Govt should ensure this, we are running a scheme in Bihar to provide water to every household tap,” he added.
Addressing party workers, mostly immigrants from Bihar and Eastern UP, the JDU chief said that liquor consumption is a menace and Delhi too needs prohibition to check it. He said that earlier there used to be jungle raj in Bihar but now law and order is under control. “We do a lot of work but don’t publicise much, in fact we spend least on publicity,” said Nitish Kumar.
JDU workers meet in Badarpur is being seen as an attempt by the party to woo immigrants from Bihar in the national capital.
The party intends to field candidates in all constituencies in the upcoming assembly polls slated to be held early next year.
The party has been trying to make woo voters from Bihar and its bordering districts of UP settled in the capital using Nitish Kumar’s popularity in the previous assembly and municipal polls without much impact so far.