PM Modi’s ‘sop opera’ for poll-bound Bihar

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday doled out sops worth Rs 294.53 crore for the poll-bound state.

The schemes launched today were related to fisheries, animal husbandry and agriculture, and part of the Rs 20,050-crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), a flagship scheme aimed at focused and sustainable development of fisheries. The PMMSY is part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package and is scheduled to be its implementation between 2020-25

“The PMMSY will transform the fisheries sector and help India become an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” said the Prime Minister, while interacting with farmers of Purnia, Begusarai and Madhepura through video conferencing.

The PM also launched the mobile app e-Gopala which will provide farmers a marketplace for livestock and a semen station with state-of-the-art facilities in Purnia.

The PM also announced a fish brood bank and an aquatic disease referral laboratory in Bihar.

EX-UNION MINISTER QUITS RJD

Meanwhile, in a major setback to the RJD, former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Thursday quit the party through a handwritten resignation letter to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“I have been working with you for the last 32 years after the demise of Karpoori Thakur. But I can’t be associated with you anymore. Please excuse me,” said Raghuvansh’s letter in Hindi.

With a Masters in Maths degree under his name, Raghuvansh was Union Rural Development Minister in the UPA-I government and became one of Manmohan Singh's favourite ministers after implementing the UPA flagship scheme MNREGA in 2004-09.

However, his relationship with Yadav soured when Tejashwi Yadav tried to induct his bête noire Rama Singh (who had defeated Raghuvansh in Vaishali during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll) into the RJD.

To rub salt into his wounds, Lalu’s elder son Tej Pratap had last month said, “It won’t make any difference if ‘ek lota pani’ (a mug of water) is taken out from the sea”, in an oblique reference to Raghuvansh’s plan to quit the RJD.

Raghuvansh is presently admitted in AIIMS, New Delhi, after he was found to be Covid-19 positive.