Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday compared NDA’s rule to ‘andher nagari’ (whimsical governance), and accused the Centre of creating regional imbalance by “ignoring Bihar” in the first list of 20 smart cities announced on Thursday.

Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Biharsharif figure in the overall list of 98 cities the Union government has selected to develop as smart cities, but have not made the cut in the first phase. “The Union government had asked for proposals on a given format for development of smart cities in all the states for regional balance. We had submitted the proposal. The Centre shortlisted cities from all the states. But it has now decided to develop only 20 smart cities and ignored Bihar,” said Nitish, adding, “Yehi hai andher nagari (This is an example of whimsical governance).”

However, the state BJP said it was the Nitish government’s fault that none of the Bihar cities figure in the list. “The decision was taken by the Centre based on feedback from the states. If the Bihar government had furnished proper details, the Centre would have definitely included cities from the state in the first list,” Sushil Kumar Modi, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar legislative council, said.

Source:TimesofInida