Union ministers from Bihar failed to press Centre: Nitish

Patna, Nov 10 (UNI) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today alleged that union ministers from Bihar had failed to exert pressure on the Centre to ensure action against the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for failing to give safety and security to the people from Bihar.

Mr Kumar told mediapersons here that union ministers from Bihar had failed to utilise the opportinuty from the atmosphere created by the resignation of JD(U) MPs. The numerical strength of RJD and LJP in Lok Sabha was stronger than that of DMK which managed to exert pressure on the Centre to protect the interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka, he added.

''It appears that union ministers from Bihar were not interested in exerting pressure on the Centre to ensure safety and security of the people of Bihar in Maharashtra,'' Mr Kumar said, adding leave aside submitting the resignations, mere threat to do so was enough to move the Centre on the issue.

To a query, the chief minister said Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterji had called all the JD(U) MPs who had submitted their resignations to Lok Sabha secretary general on November 7. ''The resignation letters were addressed to the Lok Sabha Speaker and he appears to be making himself satisfied by meeting JD(U) MPs,'' he added.

UNI KKS ADG ARB CS1812