Omission of Nitish name triggers war of words

Omission of the name and photograph of former chief minister Nitish Kumar from the site of NTPC power plant at Barh, where a unit is being dedicated to the people on Saturday, triggered a war of words between rival parties.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal will be inaugurating the commercial launch unit IV of the NTPC Barh Super Thermal Power Plant of 2x600 MW at Barh in the Patna district.

While photographs and names of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Ravishankar Prasad, Radhamohan Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Giriraj Singh, Ramkripal Yadav and others at the venue have been displayed, those of Nitish Kumar, who as a Lok Sabha MP from Barh and also later as chief minister made several efforts for the project, is missing.

Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and state Power Minister Vijendra Yadav, however, attended the inauguration function.

Kumar in his speech at Chapra on Saturday made snide remarks about the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP for trying to take credit for the Barh project.

“Those who took pain for the project has no mention while big size posters of BJP ministers having no contribution is splashing the venue,” Kumar said in his speech as part of ‘Samparak yatra’ at Chapra.

 “Hum to kaam karte hain aur naam ka lobh nahi karte hai (I belief in doing work and do not have greed for name),” he said.

Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the foundation stone of the Barh NTPC unit was laid by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hence it would have been proper if it was inaugurated by Modi as a mark of respect to Vajpayee.

While Kumar was moderate in his criticism, Janata Dal-United leaders used the opportunity to slam the BJP.

JD-U spokesman Neeraj Kumar said BJP would not gain anything by displaying posters and banners as people of the region knows Kumar’s role in bringing the NTPC unit at Barh.

But, state BJP president Mangal Pandey brushed aside JD-U criticism. “The foundation of the NTPC Barh unit was laid by Vajpayee jee which is completed by present PM Narendra Modi,” he said.