Sushil Kumar Modi slams Nitish Kumar for expecting state-specific proposals in budget

PATNA: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today took a dig at Nitish Kumar for expectation of Bihar- specific proposals in the Union Budget and asked the Chief Minister whether there has been precedent in this regard.

"Does the Union Budget have had provision for state-specific proposals? Please tell us as you (Nitish Kumar) have been an MP for many terms and Railway minister," he said in a statement a day after the Chief Minister had said there was no Bihar-specific proposal in the Union Budget for 2017-18.

"It appears that Nitish Kumar's reservations about the Union Budget is guided by rub off effect of his association with the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad," Modi quipped.

Trashing the Bihar Chief Minister's expectations from the Union Budget, the senior BJP leader asked the former whether the annual state budget will have development proposals for districts or blocks.

Modi, a former deputy chief minister and finance minister, reiterated that a poor and backward state like Bihar stands to benefit the most from the Union Budget for next fiscal.

He also hit out at the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav for objecting to the Centre's proposals to set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jharkhand and Gujarat and rued that the Bihar government was yet to provide land for setting up second unit of AIIMS in the state.

On the Chief Minister's demand for according special status to Bihar, Modi said that the concept of special category states stands abolished by the 14th Finance Commission on recommendations of Raghuram Rajan committee set up by the UPA government.

But the Narendra Modi government has given Bihar much more than benefits under special category state through a special package for development of road and other infrastructure.