Nitish Kumar fumes at media when asked about rain

Facing all-round criticism by the Opposition as well as the BJP for extremely poor relief and rescue operations in a marooned Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his cool when reporters asked him how he would fix responsibility for the mess.

"Is waterlogging in Patna the only problem we have? What happened in America? And what about heavy rainfall in Mumbai and other parts of the country?” Nitish lashed out at journalists when cornered about the sloppy relief work in the state capital.

Patna had been submerged since Friday night after a very heavy rainfall was here in the last couple of days.

“We don’t want such media persons who, instead of making people aware (about rain), remain hell-bent on slamming the government every time,” Nitish told the journalists.

But it’s not only the media which has been assailing the Bihar chief minister for inept handling of the flood-like situation in the state capital.

The ruling ally, the BJP, too lashed out at Nitish for not rising to the occasion.

“The Nitish government is responsible for the ills plaguing Patna following heavy rainfall here,” said Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal.

He asked the chief minister why the streets of the state capital were still flooded when there has been no rain for the last two days.

“Fix responsibility of officials as early as possible,” said the Bihar BJP chief.

The Union minister and BJP MP from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, has already slammed Nitish in no uncertain terms holding him responsible for “submerged Patna”.

Meanwhile, the Met Department has issued an alert for heavy rainfall in four districts of Bihar, including Patna and Begusarai, on Thursday and Friday.

As a consequence, the district administration has ordered the closure of all schools, colleges and coaching institutions on October 3 and 4.