No debate on health dept in Assembly: BJP assails Nitish govt

BJP today assailed the Nitish Kumar government for not listing a special debate on Health department in the ongoing Budget session of the Legislative Assembly, allegedly due to "infighting" in the coalition partner RJD.
"A fight is going on within the RJD to prove the elder son of Lalu Prasad incapable," Senior BJP MLA Nand Kishore Yadav told reporters here.
Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap is the state Health minister, while his younger son Tejaswi Yadav is the Deputy Chief Minister.
The BJP leader, who was the Leader of Opposition in the previous Assembly, alleged that due to "internal bickering," the grand secular alliance has divided special debates on 12 departments during the ongoing session on political considerations and ignored important departments, some of which were related to implementation of the "seven resolves" of the Chief Minister.

As per the government's decision, special debates would be held on five departments each held by RJD and JD(U) ministers and two held by Congress.
Debates would be conducted on Home, Water Resources, Energy, Rural Development and Urban development departments held by JD(U) ministers. For RJD, debates would be held on Road Construction, Agriculture, Cooperative, Transport and Art and Culture and for Congress quota of ministers, debates would be conducted on Education and Animal Husbandry.
"In this politics among the grand secular alliance partners, many important departments like Health, PHED, Welfare, Food and Rural Works have been left out," Yadav said, adding some of these were linked with construction of toilet and providing drinking water to every household.

"This is for the first time in the history of Bihar Assembly that no debate will be held on Health department," the BJP MLA from Patna Sahib, who also served as the state health minister in the NDA government, said.