JD(U), allies blame governor, BJP for political crisis in Bihar

Patna, Feb 15: In a display of solidarity ahead of the trust vote lined up for February 20 for the Jitan Ram Manjhi government, JD(U) and its allies on Sunday came out together to slam Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and the BJP for the political instability in the state.

"Bihar has been pushed into turmoil and political instability due to the long rope given by the governor at the behest of BJP to Chief Minister Manjhi to seek trust vote," JD(U) state president Bashistha Narayan Singh told reporters here at a press conference.

"An unprecedented state of fiscal anarchy prevails in Bihar with the chief minister announcing one populist measure after another which have grave financial implications for the treasury," Singh said while blaming the governor for the unseemly political situation in the state.

Manjhi has been acting in an irresponsible manner by coming up with a slew of populist measures even though he knows that he will not be in power long enough to implement those schemes, Singh said while asking Tripathi to immediately direct the chief minister to stop announcing policy decisions for the time being until the trust vote was over.

With the governor having defended the February 20 deadline given to Manjhi for the trust vote and taking a dig at senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar for being 'desperate' for power, Singh charged that Tripathi was making political statements despite holding a constitutional office.

"Tripathi is speaking the language of Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi if one looks at the similarity of their views on the prevailing political situation... the governor should have refrained from making political statements given the high constitutional post that he holds," Singh said.

RJD's state unit president Ramchandra Purve flayed Manjhi for his defiance in not quitting his post after he was asked by the party to do so last week and charged that the governor was propping up his government in brazen disregard of the fact that the incumbent did not have the numbers.

Charging that Manjhi was pushing Bihar into "financial anarchy", Purve told the reporters that the number of populist schemes his government had rolled out since it was reduced to a minority would put a burden of over Rs 50,000 crore on the state's treasury.

PTI