Rajnath attacks lalu, Nitish for backwardness of Bihar

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today held RJD chief lalu Prasad and CM Nitish Kumar accountable for Bihar's backwardness, while urging the voters to give NDA a chance to put the state on path of development over the next five years.

"If Bihar lags behind other states in terms of road, education, health and agriculture infrastructure, the accountability rests with lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar who together ruled the state over the past quarter century," he told an election meeting in Barari assembly constituency.

Singh, a senior BJP leader, ridiculed Kumar for seeking votes in the name of development and questioned his "audacity" to do so after having failed to do anything worthwhile for the betterment of Bihar during his decade-long rule.

He also castigated the Bihar Chief Minister for pursuing "casteist and communal politics" to divert developmental aspirations of the people for which the BJP-led coalition was rooting for during electioneering for Bihar.

"We have a solid track record having carried out development in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," Singh said and appealed to the voters in Bihar to give one opportunity to the NDA to "turn around the fortunes of the state (Bihar) and its people."

The Union Minister also showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for enhancing India's prestige abroad and asked the people of Bihar to repose faith in him and vote NDA to power in the state.