Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "shallow" talk over central assistance to the state which cannot be deprived of it under the Constitutional arrangement.
Reacting sharply to Modi's remarks at BJP's 'Parivartan Rally' in Bhagalpur that the Chief Minister was "cheating" Bihar by announcing a Rs 2.7 lakh crore package for the state which, in effect, would be a sum of state's budget for five years to which the Centre also contributes, Kumar said, "Can the Centre stop the money given to states by the Finance Commission.
"This money is from internal resources of the states. Will the Prime Minister of the country make such a shallow remark?"
He said the Prime Minister may have "denied" even this money to states if he had the power "but this is the Constitutional arrangement".
"The Prime Minister said it was a gift to Bihar, whereas the fact is that it is our money," he said, reminding Modi that he was also a Chief Minister in the past.
Asking the Prime Minister not to worry about the source of funds for implementing his seven-point agenda mentioned in the visision document unveiled last week, Kumar said Bihar will not seek additional money from the Centre to implement it if he was returned to power.
"Aap chinta na karen (you need not worry about it).... We will raise resources to meet the Rs 2.7 lakh crore expenditure for vision document for development of Bihar over the next five years in the event of being re-elected to power," he told reporters.
Kumar claimed the state's finances were in a healthy shape and that the Gross State Domestic Product was growing annually by ten per cent since he took charge a decade back.
"Our plan size has gone up from Rs 4,000 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 57,000 crore in 2015-16 and our internal tax collection has also witnessed steady growth over a decade," the Chief Minister said, adding the state government had never exceeded the three per cent borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, which spoke volumes about the strong financial fundamentals of the state.
He attacked the Prime Minister for appearing to be benevolent by proposing to give Rs 3.76 lakh crore to Bihar over the next five years on the basis of the 14th Finance Commission's recommendations, saying, "the centre is not doing any 'kripa' (charity) to us as this money rightfully belongs to us."
On Modi asking Kumar whether Rs 1.06 lakh crore - the difference between the Centre's devolution of Rs 3.76 lakh crore to Bihar from divisible pool and Kumar's Rs 2.7 lakh crore proposed expenditure over vision document- will go the fodder scam way, Kumar said it reflected the PM's frustration over falling Sensex and drop in GDP, manufacturing and other indices of development.
