Nitish Kumar created a shortage of pulses in Bihar to make it a poll issue: Sushil Modi

Patna, Oct 22: Alleging that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had created a shortage of pulses in Bihar to make it a poll issue, former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today slammed the JD(U) government for not cracking down on hoarders and black marketeers.

"Kumar has deliberately created a shortage of pulses in the state to make it a poll issue by blaming the Centre for the crisis," he said in a statement.

The senior BJP leader alleged that when over 36,000 tonnes of pulses were recovered during raids on hoarders and black marketeers at 3,290 premises spread over 10 states, the Bihar government neither cracked the whip on such elements nor made any arrangement for lifting consignments of imported pulses for distribution among people.

Rebuking the state government for its indifferent attitude towards hoarders and black marketeers, Modi, a senior BJP leader, claimed that there was no stock limit prescribed in Bihar for storage of various commodities unlike some other states where the limit has been pegged at 500 quintals.

He alleged that the Nitish Kumar government had also not informed the Centre about its intention to lift imported consignment of pulses.

He pointed out that some states like Delhi were supplying pulses through retail chains at subsidized rates. Kumar and Lalu Prasad had been consistently attacking the Centre over pulses shortage in the country during electioneering in Bihar, telling voters that essential food items had become costlier than petrol by many times.

Responding to this, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Food and Consumers Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan had blamed the chief minister for it, saying that the state government had not shown any interest in lifting imported consignment of pulses to augment supply in Bihar.

PTI