Bihar CM Nitish Kumar: Cannot Rule Out Early Lok Sabha Polls

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, stated on Wednesday that it was impossible to completely rule out the idea of early Lok Sabha elections. He said this while launching 5,061 projects for the rural works department, totalling $6,680.67 crore, at the chief minister's house in front of Tejashwi Yadav and others. Video conferencing was used by Kumar to speak to engineers and other department representatives where he said, "I have been told pending works will be complete by January 2024. I would say, try completing these before that. You never know when elections may be announced."

Centre increasing the load on states

"Elections may not necessarily take place next year. These could be held earlier," said Kumar, the head of the JD(U), whose efforts to bring the opposition together have led to leaders agreeing to travel to Patna next week and develop a united strategy. Indirectly criticising the Narendra Modi administration at the national level, Kumar said, "The Centre in 2015 reduced its share in expenditure on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, to 60 per cent, leaving 40 per cent for the states to bear."

People should not forget good work done by us, says Kumar

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration initiated the rural roads programme in 2000, when the Centre was covering all costs, according to Kumar, the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar, who has pleasant recollections of his former tenure as a cabinet minister in the Vajpayee administration.

Another remark by him that was subtly critical of the current Centre government was, "Nowadays, nobody remembers the good work done by Vajpayee." He further added that, "Hopefully the good work done by us will not be forgotten."