BJP feels vindicated by Patna HC verdict on 'Badh Chala Bihar' campaign: Sushil Modi

PATNA: A day after the Patna High Court banned use of pictures of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar or ministers in the 'Badh Chala Bihar' campaign, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today said his party's stance, that the JD(U) was engaged in self-publicity, stands vindicated with the judicial order.

"We have always believed that the state government's 'Badh Chala Bihar' campaign is aimed at publicity of the ruling JD(U) for electoral benefit in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Bihar," Modi said in a statement.

"The state government has been grossly misusing public money to seek political benefit in the elections through the 'Badh Chala Bihar' campaign ... which has been vindicated by the observations of the Patna High Court yesterday," he said.

The senior BJP leader also charged the state government with falsification of facts with regard to expenditure incurred on the campaign.

Modi further claimed that the state government was using big amount of public money on setting up a "war room" at the Chief Minister's residence.

Modi also questioned the state government's decision raising budget of the Information and Publicity Relations Department (IPRD) to Rs 90 crore for the current year as against Rs 7.5 crore annually over the past three years.

Badh Chala Bihar is an ambitious campaign launched with much fanfare by Chief Minister Kumar on June 9 this year to ensure extensive public participation in drafting of developmental policies and producing a 'Bihar@2025' vision document.

The Patna High Court yesterday ruled that photographs of chief minister, ministers or any other leader as well as audio-visual visual material will not be used during the BCB campaign.