Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav Thursday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked what objection it had with the state purchasing a jet and a helicopter when it doesn’t have one. He said the state government was using planes or helicopters on lease.
“Bihar is a state which doesn’t have its own (jet) plane or helicopter. Earlier the planes or helicopters that were used by the state government were on lease. Why does BJP have an objection to it,” Yadav was quoted by news agency ANI.
Also read | ‘Under Tejashwi’s pressure, for Nitish’s dream’: BJP on nod to buy new aircraft
His remarks come amid an ongoing row over the Nitish Kumar government’s decision to purchase a new jet. BJP MP Sushil Modi earlier in the day slammed the Bihar government’s decision, calling it тАЬinappropriateтАЭ and urging it to rethink.
“The State government’s approval to buy helicopter and jet plane isn’t appropriate. Now, state governments don’t buy them and instead they are taken on lease. As Tejashwi Yadav feels he’ll become the CM next, that’s why jet planes and helicopters were brought under his pressure,” ANI quoted the former Bihar deputy chief minister.
“The government should rethink its decision. It seems that jet planes and helicopters will be used to move across the country for a campaign against PM Modi for the 2024 general elections,” he added.
Additional chief secretary (cabinet) S Siddharth Tuesday said that the Bihar government is buying a jet engine aircraft and an advanced helicopter to replace the faulty ones for the movement of top political executives and senior bureaucrats. The top official said the state cabinet had approved the civil aviation departmentтАЩs proposal to purchase the new aircraft for long-distance travel and helicopter in place of the outdated aircraft and faulty chopper for the governmentтАЩs use. It was among the seven proposals that were discussed and approved by the cabinet.
тАЬA high-level committee headed by the chief secretary would be constituted to finalise specifications and modalities to purchase the aircraft and the chopper. The committee will submit its report within three months,тАЭ said Siddharth, who also heads the civil aviation department.
(With inputs from ANI, bureau)
