Nitish rubbishes Patna name change

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday rubbished rival Lalu’s Prasad Yadav’s demand to rechristen Patna Azimabad and called it yet another gimmick by the RJD leader.

“It is a nonsensical demand. Lalu is known for raising such non-serious issues instead of being concerned about people’s welfare,” Kumar said, when asked about the issue. He slammed the RJD chief’s demand and asked that if Lalu was so much concerned about renaming Patna Azimabad, then why did he not do the needful during his 15-year-long reign in the state?

“Actually, for 15 years, he did nothing for people’s welfare, keeping them entangled in such nonsensical issues. But people are not ready to take it any longer. They have stopped taking him seriously,” the Chief Minister remarked.

Kumar also came down heavily on Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh for using “unparliamentary” language over the issue of relocating the ashes of Lord Buddha from Patna to Vaishali—the rural development minister’s constituency.