When I was a Central minister, you played in my lap, Nitish to Tejashwi

Patna, Feb 23 On Day 3 of the ongoing Budget session in the Bihar Assembly, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared a light moment while pointing towards RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, saying when he was a Central minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, Tejashwi had played in his lap.

Kumar, while replying to the House on power supply, also said that during the 15-year tenure of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, the condition of electricity was at its lowest level in the state.

Reacting to this, Tejashwi said that when the RJD was in power, Nitish Kumar was the Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, adding that why he didn't he apply pressure on the Centre to improve the power infrastructure in Bihar then.

Kumar said: "When I was a minister at the Centre, you had played in my lap. You are a young generation leader and you should listen to us. At present, electricity reaches every household at the village level. The average charge of electricity per unit is Rs 4.5 in Bihar, while it is available for agriculture work at a rate of just 65 paisa per unit," Kumar said.

"We have received complaints about excessive power bills from several places in Bihar. It was observed that a person living in a hut and having just one bulb had received a bill of Rs 14,000. Hence, we have introduced prepaid electricity meters in the state to minimise wrongdoings. Now anyone can recharge the prepaid meter to avail electricity according to their usage. This idea was endorsed by the Centre as well. We have installed 1.34 lakh prepaid meters so far and more installations are going on in the state," the Chief Minister said.

"We are working in every sector to improve infrastructure in Bihar," he added.

( With inputs from IANS )