Tejaswi Yadav taunts PM Narendra Modi for 'hollow' Bihar Diwas greetings

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday taunted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for greeting people on "Bihar Diwas" without either according special category status or providing any special package to the state.

"It is a good thing that Modi has extended his greetings to the people of Bihar, but he failed to grant special category status or special package promised by him.

"Three years have passed (since PM made the promise), but nothing has happened so far, except 'jumlas' (hollow words)," Tejaswi, the younger son of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said.

Tejaswi, 27, said the people of Bihar had been betrayed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.

"BJP and its allies won 31 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 general elections in Bihar, but Modi-led government did nothing special for the state," he said.

Tejaswi also recalled that the Rs 1.25 lakh-crore bounty announced by Modi during a poll campaign for the October 2015 assembly elections was still awaited.

Modi on Wednesday greeted the people of the state on the occasion of Bihar Diwas or Bihar Day.

Bihar Diwas is celebrated every year on March 22, marking the formation of the state of Bihar. The state was carved out of West Bengal in 1912 and declared a separate state by the then colonial British government.