PATNA: Bihar's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday accused the Centre of adopting a "stepmotherly" attitude towards the state in providing flood relief as he slammed Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Union ministers for "failing" to secure aid for people hit by the deluge.
More than 48 lakh people in 15 districts remained affected by the floods, even as waters have started to recede in most rivers. The worst-affected districts were Patna, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, and Araria.
Addressing a press conference here, the RJD working president said, "Whenever there are floods in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives quick assurances of relief, talks to state leadership and directs deployment of relief forces, including the Indian Air Force.
"However, there is a stepmotherly treatment towards Bihar, where he comes during election campaigns and eats 'litti chokha'," Yadav alleged.
Asserting that Bihar was among the states worst-hit by floods, the RJD leader said he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 7, demanding that the floods be declared a "national disaster" and immediate financial assistance of Rs 5,000 crore be provided.
"Not doing anything for Bihar in 20 years, Amit Shah had asked for five more years before the state elections to stem flood-related vagaries. Let alone visiting Bihar during the floods this year, he hasn't even talked about any assistance," Yadav said.
"The engines of the 'double-engine' government in Bihar have failed. I am not aware of how often the chief minister talks to PM Modi, and wonder why he has not been able to secure central assistance. There are many Union ministers from Bihar, but none has the influence to bring central help to the state," he said.
Yadav claimed he has not received any response to the letters he wrote to Modi and Choudhary. "Just like the PM has ignored Bihar in times of flood, people will ignore him in the future," he said.
The RJD leader alleged that the ruling NDA "bought votes" by distributing Rs 10,000 each to women ahead of the 2025 Bihar assembly elections, putting a strain on the treasury.
"Ahead of the floods in Bihar, in June, the state government used contingency funds to pay social security pensions. The state's treasury is almost empty. Now as floods are sweeping across Bihar, we are facing paucity of funds," Yadav said.
The RJD leader highlighted former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's promise that disaster-affected people would have the first right on the resources of the state, which, he said, "now stood forsaken.
Taking a dig at Chirag Paswan, a Union minister whose Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency overlaps with his assembly constituency, Yadav said that "mere casual visits of flood-affected regions" won't solve any problem.
"Chirag Paswan ji visited the flood-affected region, which is a good thing. However, he should strive to get the Central government to provide relief funds to Bihar. I also visited Raghopur several times to take stock of riverbank scouring, but since I am not part of either the state or the Central government, my party has limited avenues for providing direct assistance," he said.
When pointed out by a journalist that Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary was not among the chief ministers who attended the BRICS Summit, the RJD leader quipped, "Perhaps he was not eligible to be invited. The invitees knew that he was there; he could have asked Putin not to become restless. If he could ask that to the speaker of the Bihar Assembly, then he could do it to anybody."
Yadav was alluding to a 2021 showdown between the then assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary, who was then a cabinet minister. Reacting to an intervention by the speaker, Choudhary had commented, "'vyakul nahi hona hai' (there is no need to be restless)".
