I do not even dream of becoming PM: Nitish Kumar
I do not even dream of becoming PM: Nitish Kumar
The chief minister said he was happy working for the people of Bihar.

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday endorsed BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad's view that the nominee for the prime minister's post should be from the major party within NDA and said he did not even dream of the office.

"I myself have been saying the same thing for long .... Ravishankar Prasad has said the same thing," Kumar said when asked to comment on the Rajya Sabha leader statement on the candidate for the PM post. Kumar, under whose leadership NDA won 33 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and confined RJD to merely four in the last General elections, said he had been repeatedly saying that "PM candidate should be from the largest party of the alliance."

The chief minister said he was happy working for the people of Bihar and did not dream of becoming PM. When told that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, considered a strong contender for the PM post from NDA, also said that he was happy working for the state, Kumar refused to comment.

He disagreed with the comments of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit that Rs 600, to be given under cash subsidy transfer scheme, were sufficient to feed five members of a family in a month. "It is impossible to feed five members of a family in Rs 600 a month that will come down to Rs 4 per person daily," he said after attending the "Janata Ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri" programme.

He backed cash transfer, but said the scheme claimed by the UPA as "game-changer" in 2014 polls would succeed only when beneficiaries were correctly identified by constituting

an independent BPL Commission. (MORE) PTI SNS PR

PMS

12172014

Asked to comment on Congress General Secretary Rahul

Gandhi's view that cash subsidy would help the UPA government

in the 2014 General elections, Kumar said only time would

prove it.

Kumar pointed out major gaps in the Centre's count of BPL

beneficiaries in Bihar and elsewhere which was a major hurdle

in implementation of subsidised foodgrains scheme through PDS.

"In Bihar while the Centre provides subsidised foodgrains

for about 72 lakh BPL beneficiaries, the actual count as

conducted by the state government by adopting the central

criterion comes to 1.40 crore," he said to drive home his

point.

Picking holes in the cash subsidy scheme, Kumar said it

recommended purchase of uniform for school children through a

committee which would be a major problem in Bihar as the state

government was successfully providing direct cash for the

purpose.

"I have pointed it out to the PM and shall raise it

prominently in the coming meeting of NDC (National Development

Council)," he said.

He took exception to the Industry and Commerce Minister

Anand Sharma ruling out special category status to Bihar and

said he had written to the Prime Minister directly contesting

the argument of the Inter-Ministerial Group constituted by him

on the issue and did not give much credence to what Sharma

said.

"I have not put this demand to the Industries minister

so what he says does not make much difference," he said.

Kumar said he would mobilise support of other states which

fell short in major developmental indices as compared to

national average for strategic plan for them.

He, however, ruled out forming any front (of such

states) for this purpose. PTI SNS PR

PMS

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