Patna: A day after JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar blamed it for destroying the 'Brand Bihar' for political dividends, the BJP today flayed the former chief minister for decimating the "feel-good changed perception" about the state by shaking hands with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad.
"Kumar had demolished the 'Brand Bihar' and the 2010 Assembly poll mandate in one stroke" by breaching the nearly two-decade long alliance with BJP to fulfill his crass political ambitions, former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement here.
The 'Brand Bihar' was destroyed on the very day Kumar parted ways with the BJP on June 16, 2013, and since then Bihar has been gripped by crises beginning with serial blasts at Bodh Gaya in the following month and the midday meal tragedy in Saran district in which 23 children died after consuming contaminated food, he said.
The law and order situation has collapsed in Bihar since then and the state capital was blood-soaked with terror attack at Gandhi Maidan in October last year in which seven persons were killed and nearly 100 others sustained injuries, Modi said.
The 'Brand Bihar' has taken a hit with development stalled and economic growth rate plummeting after sacking of 11 BJP ministers by then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Modi said, adding that the crime graph went up so much that people were reminded of the days of 'jungle raj'.
Kumar then compromised with his high moral standards by effecting defection from other parties and took support of the Congress, RJD and other parties to ensure fragile majority of first his own government and then one headed by his successor Jitan Ram Manjhi, Modi said.
The former chief minister has decimated the 'Brand Bihar' by finally deciding "to sit in the lap" of the RJD supremo against whom he had fought politically and sought mandate to end the 'jungle raj'.
Kumar, in a post on a social networking site, had yesterday slammed the BJP for destroying 'Brand Bihar' for political gains by destabilizing the JD(U)-led state government.
