'Lalu Yadav did nothing for women but make wife successor': Nitish Kumar's latest attack

In yet another personal attack against the Opposition, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that RJD Supremo Lalu Yadav did nothing for the welfare of women of Bihar except installing his wife as the CM after he was jailed for corruption. Kumar asked voters to not "get misled" by people who "ignored" women and backward classes during their reign.

"How was the condition of women earlier? They were ignored, nobody paid attention to their issues," he said, attacking the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) at an election rally at Parbatta which will vote in the second phase of Bihar polls on Tuesday. 

Hitting out at his jailed rival Lalu Yadav Kumar said, "When he was sent to jail, he installed his wife (Rabri Devi) on the chair, but did nothing for the welfare of the women otherwise."

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The Chief Minister said that when he was elected to office, he ensured reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies, besides providing quotas to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes "whom nobody cared about before".

"If Bihar has progressed today, the biggest reason is women's participation. Promoting women is our commitment," the Janata Dal (United) chief said.

Lalu Yadav, who became the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990, had anointed his wife as his successor after he was sent to jail in 1997 over a multi-crore corruption case. 

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Highlighting the prohibition law and the effect it has had, the Chief Minister appealed to women to vote first and cook later on election day and also encourage others in their family to vote.

Attacking the RJD over its record on law and order, education, health, jobs and development, Kumar said, "Everybody knows who says what and indulges in what kind of misdeeds. They (the opposition) neither have the experience to work nor the will. They just make hollow promises."

He said that it was his government that launched the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, locally known as JEEViKA, with a loan from the World Bank and the programme has been expanded.

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Nitish Kumar's poll promise

The JDU chief said that if voted to power, he will ensure irrigation water to every field and install solar streetlights in every village. "Earlier even cities did not have electricity, but now we have ended the lantern era and every household gets power now," he said, in a dig at the poll symbol of the RJD which is a lantern.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given several projects for the development of Bihar. If you give us another chance to work, we will  take Bihar forward and make it a developed state," he added

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(With inputs from PTI)