UPA chairperson refutes Nitish's allegations of bias against Bihar

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday gave a befitting reply to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who earlier in the day accused the Centre of not allocating sufficient funds to the state.

“So far as development is concerned, Bihar has been always been on our priority list. It is precisely against this backdrop that the Centre allocated Bihar Rs 1,34,000 crore to the Nitish regime,” said UPA chairperson Sonia, adding that there was a huge public investment in Bihar in the last eight years, which saw the state recording an impressive growth rate.

Sonia said this while addressing a public meeting in Bihar’s Kishanganj district, around 480 km from the state capital.

Earlier, the Congress president formally laid the foundation stone for a branch of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Nitish, along with Union Human Resource Development Minister M Pallam Raju, was also present at the ceremony.

After laying the foundation stone, Sonia proceeded to the venue where she addressed the gathering.

Nitish, who stayed back, told media that the Centre had always discriminated in sanctioning funds to the state.

“They have allocated Rs 137 crore for the AMU branch, which is unth ke moonh mein jira (a drop in the ocean),” lamented Nitish.

At present, the AMU branch is operating in Kishanganj from two separate buildings as a temporary arrangement, where 58 students have been enrolled in the B.Ed course.

“We are also planning to introduce some other PG and UG courses from the next session,” said officer on special duty, AMU branch, Rashid Nehal.
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