Patna: Union Minister of State for Communications and Technology Sachin Pilot on Friday charged the NDA government in Bihar with gross misuse and loot of central funds worth Rs 11,412 crore under Mahatma National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and other flagship programmes for the poor people.
As much of as Rs 11,412 of the over Rs 95,000 crore allocated to the state by the Centre for implementation of central flagship programmes, including MNREGA, have been misused and looted by the state government to deprive the poor people of their dues, he told reporters in Patna.
A day after the Patna High Court had ordered a CBI probe into misappropriation and illegal withdrawal of Rs 11,412 crore from state treasury by the state governments since 2002, Pilot demanded a speedy investigation by the central agency to bring the culprits to book.
"The NDA government will not succeed in either influencing or creating obstacles in the way of the CBI investigation into the alleged misappropriation of the central funds", the Union Minister said.
Pilot, who arrived here on a two-day visit to boost the electoral prospects of the Congress in the forthcoming assembly polls, also castigated the NDA government, particularly Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for misusing public money for publicity of its 'exaggerated' performance.
With the assembly polls round the corner, the state government has been wasting public money on advertisement and publicity to carry out a 'false propaganda' about its achievements and building an image for the Chief Minister and claimed that it will not bring a desired result in favour of the NDA at the hustings.
On the NDA government trumpeting its development work in the state, Pilot said that its failure to generate even a single Mega Watt power in its tenure spoke volumes about its performance on the development front.
Claiming that the NDA was on its way out in the ensuing assembly polls, the Union Minister said that the entry of the tainted leaders like Md. Taslimuddin and other criminal elements were indicative of desperation setting in the ranks of the ruling coalition.
On the JD(U)'s jibe at the Congress for 'air dropping' its central ministers in Bihar at the time of elections, Pilot took exception to the ruling coalition's objections in this regard and said that the ministers were also the active members of their party and entitled to visit any state at any time to boost their party's electoral prospects.
The Union Minister was optimist about a strong performance by the Congress in the assembly polls due later this year and said that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would visit the state soon to campaign for the party in Bihar polls.
Another fact that there were a multitude of aspirants from each assembly seat in Bihar also bode well for the Congress in the polls, he said.
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