Bihar MLA funds likely to go up

Patna: The state government is likely to increase legislators’ local area development fund from Rs 2 crore per annum to Rs 3 crore.

This was hinted at during a NDA legislature party meeting at chief minister Nitish Kumar’s 1 Aney Marg residence on Monday evening attended by legislators from all four alliance constituents – JDU, BJP, LJP and RLSP. A formal announcement in this regard is likely to be made on July 26, the concluding day of the monsoon session.

Sharing details with The Telegraph on Tuesday, a JDU legislator said: “The chief minister hinted about this during the meeting, saying he will soon announce something special for legislators.”

The meeting also delivered a strong message on NDA unity. “All ministers in-charge were told to camp in the districts after the session to take stock of the drought situation. Also, they were asked to invite leaders of all constituent parties to review meetings,” said a BJP legislator who was present in the meeting. He said the chief minister and his deputy also indicated that the NDA government had run the state from 2005 to 2013 without any problems. “The alliance broke down for some reasons for some time after that but now there was no confusion and the alliance was there to stay and hence legislators need not carry that confusion,” he quoted the chief minister and his deputy as having said.

The legislators were also told to work aggressively in the field to spread word about work being done for the poor people of the state and to counter the Opposition’s effort to create a wrong perception about the government.

“We were told to counter the Opposition’s point that amendment to the dry law was anti-poor and to tell people how the poor people were actually benefiting fron prohibition,” said a JDU legislator. “Some legislators raised points regarding poor quality of work in piped drinking water and drain construction projects in the villages. The chief minister categorically asked us to be vigilant and to keep the government informed.”

“Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi asked legislators to counter points raised by the Opposition aggressively in the House,” a BJP legislator said.

The meeting was followed by dinner in which both vegetarian and non vegetarian meals were served. “Nitish ji has always been a good host and Monday’s dinner was no different,” said a BJP legislator.

Courtesy: The Telegraph