Tejashwi claims 8-fold budgetary increase even under RJD;Dy CM trashes his assertion

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav Thursday sought to dispel the perception that Bihar budget size increased eight times only under the NDA whereas fact was that the hike was eight-fold even during his party's 15 years rule in the state, an assertion dimissed by Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad as being based on ''misleading'' data.

The claim and its rejection took place in course of debate on the annual budget for 2021-21 in the legislative assembly.

Participating in the debate, Yadav, who is leader of the opposition in the house, said the state's budget size was Rs 3000 crore in 1990 which increased to Rs 24,000 crore, a growth of eight times, in 2005 till when the RJD was in power.

Similarly the budget size increased from Rs 24,000 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 2.11 lakh crore in 2019-20, again an eight-fold growth under the NDA rule in the state, he said to drive home the point.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Yadav's father, was the state chief minister in 1990. Rabri Devi, his mother later donned the mantle till Nitish Kumar assumed power in the state in November 2005.

''This fact nullifies the propaganda and perception that have been created that the RJD regime under Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi was 'Jungle Raj' and had nothing to do with the development of the state'', Yadav said.

Claiming that the NDA government in thes state has been indulging in ''jugglery of figures'', the RJD leader said that Bihar had in fact witnessed decline of two per cent in revenue collection during 2005-06 to 2021-22.

The state government could barely spend Rs 70,000 crore out of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore of the sanctioned budget expenditure for 2020-21, he said and wondered whether the Nitish Kumar government will be able to spend Rs 1.43 lakh crore in the remaining one month of the current fiscal.

Replying to the debate, Tarkishore Prasad, who is also the state's Finance minister, refuted Yadav's claim, saying the data presented by him was completely ''misleading''.

Drawing a comparison between the two regimes, Dy CM said the percentage of plan outlay was 21 per cent of the entire budget of 2005-06 during the RJD regime, while the plan outlay percentage has now increased to 50 per cent (in the current fiscal) which is considered as a ''yardstick'' to measure the states development.

''If you want to compare the figure between the two regimes, you should discuss on 50 per cent versus 21 per cent.

If you do that, it will be a comparison in true sense,'' the Dy CM told the LOP.

The chief minister was in the house when Prasad, a senior BJP leader, was speaking.

Dilapidated roads, animals sitting on hospital beds, bamboo bridge were some of the common scenes during their (RJD) regime, Prasad said, adding ''if I start talking about the condition in which the state was then, it would take at least three-four hours.'' Coming back to the budget for the fiscal 2021-22, Prasad asserted that it presents the future plan of Bihar and said the plan for making Bihar a developed state in the next five years will be fulfiled under the leadership of Kumar.

Prasad said that more than 20 lakh employment opportunities will be created both in private and public sector in the next five years by giving youths technical education and training besides promoting entrepreneurship.

After successful launch of Saat nischay(seven resolves) scheme in 2015 and its completion, the part II of the seven resolves have been started by the present government for the next five years, he said.

Saat nischay-II has found mention in the budget 2021-22, the Finance minister added.