With polls not far away, flood relief efforts in Bihar is fast turning into a bitter clash between rivals Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. On Friday, both leaders met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take credit for extending succour to the flood ravaged state.

Lalu used a meeting of the National Disaster Management Group (NDMG) at the Prime Minister’s residence to demand that the Centre play a pro-active role and monitor the expenditure of money given to the state Government while alleging that the state had completely failed in its duty. “An officer of the Home Department should be deputed in every flood affected district to monitor the expenditure of money extended by the Centre. It is necessary as the state has failed completely. Officials of the state are nowhere to be found,” Lalu alleged after the high-level meeting. “The Prime Minister also agreed that monitoring was needed,” Lalu claimed.

Minutes later, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached the Prime Minister’s residence and submitted a proposal to demand a special economic package of some Rs 9,000 crore for reconstruction work and urged the Centre to clear the confusion over plugging the breach in the Kosi river’s embankment.

While Kumar wants a special economic package to be spent at the state’s discretion, Lalu is out to pre-empt the move as it could give all the credit to the state. At the NDMG meeting, the RJD chief tried to impress upon everybody that reconstruction package should be extended under various central schemes like Bharat Nirman, Indira Awas Yojna, Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojna and Sarv Siksha Abhiyan that would empower the Centre to monitor it.

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