NITI Aayog SDG index: 'Bihar ranks top from bottom'; Lalu taunts Nitish

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav also hit out at Nitish Kumar.

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after the state was adjudged to be the worst performer in the NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index 2020-21.

"Nitish is full of negativity. He closed down several health centres opened during my tenure as Chief Minister of Bihar and converted them into ghost houses and various school buildings have turned into garages. It is only because of this that Bihar has ranked the top from the bottom in the NITI Ayog report. The so-called double engine (government) has turned into trouble engine," Lalu Parsad wrote in a tweet in Hindi.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav hit out at Nitish Kumar.

"Bihar has been placed at the bottom for the third consecutive year. This sums up the 16-year BJP-Nitish rule's progress on paper," Tejashwi tweeted.

Responding to Lalu and Tejashwi's statements, Janata Dal (United) leader and spokesperson of the party Rajeev Ranjan said, "Well now Lalu Yadav is talking on Niti Aayog. He forgot his tenure when people of India were only talking about the crimes in Bihar."

He added, "Yes, I accept but if Bihar had special status then the situation of Bihar would have been different and for this situation of Bihar RJD and Congress are responsible."

RJD senior leader Shivanand Tiwari reacting to the remarks said "Jharkhand's ranking is better than Bihar because Nitish didn't do anything for Bihar, no schools, no industry, no roads so how will Bihar get better ranking."

BJP leader and spokesperson Ajit Choudhary said, "Now Lalu Yadav has no work to do so he is giving unnecessary 'gyan'. I think he forget his regime and when his uneducated wife became the Chief Minister of Bihar. What happened at that time?"

In the latest index, released on Thursday, Kerala retained the top rank with a score of 75, while Bihar was adjudged to be the worst-performing state with a score of 52.