New Delhi: With Bihar scheduled to go to assembly elections later this year, the state BJP unit has urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to ensure its MLAs and ministers are involved in Covid-19 relief work, such as handling migrants and distributing food, masks, PPE kits and foodgrains.
The chief minister has a reputation of relying heavily on IAS officers for administrative work as opposed to elected public representatives.
The BJP also wants the chief minister to allow the MLAs, many of whom are stuck in Patna, to travel intrastate so that they are seen in their respective constituencies. Sources in the BJP told ThePrint that this was conveyed to the CM during the meeting he held with the BJP legislature party Sunday.
“We are distributing ration kits and food to several thousand people a day but many MLAs are stuck in Patna due to the lockdown. They should be allowed to travel to their constituencies,” said BJP MLA Nitin Navin. “Elections are approaching. A bureaucrat does not have to face elections, we have to fight them.”
Navin also said the BJP discussed the issue of ministers being made in-charges (prabhari mantris) of the Covid-19 fight in the districts. “Ideally it would be better if a prabhari mantri and MLAs are made accountable for a district. The district magistrate should then report to the minister.”
Speaking to ThePrint, another BJP MLA said their role in the pandemic has become “negligible”. “The face of the corona fight has been the bureaucrat in Bihar,” said the MLA. “They are issuing orders, managing foodgrains, distributing masks and PPEs. Hospitals are under their control but all their work is without accountability.”
The MLA added, “What happens if they fail to control positive cases in a district? The maximum punishment they will attract is a transfer. If an MLA loses the election, five years are wasted. Nobody is listening to MLAs in this pandemic. We have communicated our grievances to the chief minister.”
Sources said at least five to six BJP MLAs at the meeting raised the issue of travel restrictions that prevented them from going to their constituencies. They added that the MLAs said though they are supervising relief work and distribution of food through video conferencing, they want to be in the districts just like police officers and district officials.
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Nitish changes strategy after criticism
Under fire for his handling of the crisis, especially his opposition to getting back migrants and students, CM Nitish Kumar has now changed his strategy. He called an all-party meeting on 5 May and apprised opposition leaders about the state government’s strategy and work done to handle the pandemic. He also assured them that government officials will take their suggestions more seriously.
He then met JD(U) MLAs and district presidents, and followed it up with the Sunday meeting with BJP leaders and BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, who he addressed through a video conference.
“He wants to send the message that he is in total control of the situation and that he is accommodating everyone in the fight against corona,” a senior BJP leader said. “This is election time, he can’t afford to send a message that he is only listening to bureaucrats. It will alienate BJP MLAs. After the criticism on his handling of migrants and students, he is more careful of his image. The Covid-19 will be one of the most debated issues in the election campaign.”
BJP & LJP have been critical of Nitish
There has been discord within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with the BJP and the LJP hitting out at the chief minister over the handling of the pandemic.
On his Facebook page, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal attacked the functioning of the state bureaucracy during the pandemic, though he deleted the post later. He had written that the problem with the Bihar government was that no official was coming before the media to clarify what trains are coming to the state, or what shops will open in each zone, causing uncertainty. He had also said the state government should take lessons from UP where the chief secretary regularly briefs the media.
Bihar has now started briefings by secretaries.
The LJP has also hit out at the CM, accusing him of not updating the PDS beneficiary list with the central government. Former LJP president and Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan last week said the Bihar government hasn’t sent the updated list containing 14 lakh beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), thereby depriving them of food grains.
Also read: Nitish Kumar must lift alcohol ban to rescue Bihar from low GST and corona crisis
Apni performance par toh Nitishbabu bhi polls contest karne wale nahin hain. In that sense, his job is as secure as an IAS officer’s.