Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for agreeing to hold a caste census, demand for which he had been raising passionately. The Janata Dal (United) president was sharing the stage with the PM at Karakat, about 140 km from the state capital, where the latter launched development projects worth more than ₹48,000 crore.
"Like late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi ji has been doing a lot for our state. Let us all salute him", said Kumar, who has been a BJP ally since the 1990s, with a couple of phases of estrangement.
The JD(U) supremo, who now insists that he was back in the National Democratic Alliance for good, made a mention of this year's Union budget which had specific provisions for Bihar like "makhana board and airports".
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Kumar added, "I must salute the Prime Minister for agreeing to the caste census. It is such a big thing. We had been seeking it for so long..... I urge all the people here to stand up for a round of applause".
In an oblique reference to the Congress-led opposition, Kumar said, "Some parties are talking nonsense about caste census. While in power, they had an opportunity which they squandered".
The Bihar CM also attacked his arch-rival Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal, without taking any names, with the remark, "Those who ruled Bihar before us did nothing. Education, roads, employment generation, empowerment of women, all these things looked up after we took over".
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