Tejashwi Yadav slams Nitish Kumar govt over NITI Aayog ranking of Bihar

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over Bihar’s low ranking in NITI Aayog’s poverty index baseline report and said that the “double-engine” government is responsible for this. While extending greetings for New Year, Yadav spoke to the media and said, “Whom do you hold responsible for Bihar being at the lowest in terms of education, health, unemployment and others if not the double engine government of the Chief Minister?” “Who would be answerable if not them? They have 40 of 40 MPs in the state, it’s a double engine government, then if not them, who would be answerable?” he further questioned.

Calling out the state government for not remembering its promise of providing 19 lakh jobs, opposed to RJD’s promise of 10 lakh jobs, Yadav said, “In the state where people are already dealing with things like floods and drought, inflated prices, the government should have provided them with the promised 19 lakh jobs.” “I do not ask them to give it every year, but at least give it for one year; at least remember the promises you make,” he added. As per the Niti Aayog’s Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Bihar has the highest proportion of “multidimensionally poor” people; 51.91 per cent of the state’s population. Poverty, under MPI, was measured on three equally weighted dimensions – health, education, and standard of living.