The leeway given by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the State governments to bring back students, pilgrims and migrant workers stuck in other States has given fresh ammunition to NDA ally Lok Jan Shakti Party to hit out at JD (U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The LJP has been hitting out at Mr. Kumar for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic including not utilising the State’s qouta for the PDS beneficiaries.
“At least now, he should act. He has repeatedly been citing the excuse of lockdown to refrain from bringing our migrant workers, pilgrims and students. If other States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh can bring back their people, how come these rules applied only to Bihar?” LJP president Chirag Paswan aked.
He said he had to knock at Home Minister Amit Shah’s doors when the State government didn’t respond to his pleas.
“I had a word with Home Minister Amit Shah last evening after not getting any response from the State government. He was very positive and concerned about it. I had written a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar two days back requesting him to arrange transport to bring back our students stuck in Kota and other places, but I didn’t get a response.” Mr. Paswan thanked Mr. Shah for bringing in the order.
Now there should not be any further delay, Mr. Paswan said. “I would strongly say all those who are being brought back should be properly tested and I wouldn’t want the situation in Bihar to flare up because of this.”
He said the step should have been taken a long while back. “The LJP has been requesting the State government for a long while to bring back our students and the workers. Instead of taking the initiative, he lobbed the responsibility on the Union government by asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the CMs’ video conference, to bring a policy,” Mr. Paswan said.
Published - April 29, 2020 11:15 pm IST
