Centre should buy, says CM Nitish Kumar as Kushwaha fasts for school land allotted as MoS

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha continued his indefinite fast for the second consecutive day, demanding 5-acre land for two Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in Bihar, sanctioned during his tenure as Union Minister of State for education.

Upendra Kushwaha alleges Bihar Government has not provided land

Of the 13 Kendriya Vidyalayas which were approved by the Centre in August 2018, two were cleared for Bihar, one at Nawada and another at Aurangabad district. Kushwaha has been alleging that the Bihar government has not provided land as promised for the construction of school building. 

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar told Republic TV that "I cannot provide land for central schools. If the union govt wants to purchase the land we can facilitate that, through the district administration. Central schools are for kids of central govt schools and I have to take care of the poor children of Bihar and improve the basic infrastructure in villages. I have no idea of his fast unto death, but it's not a policy of the state govt."

Kushwaha launched his stir on 26th November at Miller High School, a stone throw distance from JDU headquarters. The education department of Bihar on 6 March 2017, had written a letter to commissioner Kendriya Vidyalaya that Bihar govt can provide the land only in case of preference of 75% admission to local residents.

 

 

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'I will continue my hunger strike until the land is allotted'

Kushwaha, who has lost 5 kgs in the past 2 days said, "Because of the non-cooperative attitude of the government, the standard of education is not improving. I will continue my hunger strike until the land is allotted."  "Why did the state govt agree to provide free land for school?" he questioned. After Nitish Kumar re-joined the NDA in 2017, Kushwaha started feeling uncomfortable and with his inability to transfer votes of his community, BJP had decided to dump him from the NDA for 2019 Lok Sabha elections and offered him only two seats. After this, Kushwaha walked out of NDA and joined hands with Lalu Yadav, and his party RLSP, failed to open its account. In fact, Kushwaha too lost the seat. Upendra Kushwaha, who is a staunch critic of Nitish Kumar now, was earlier a protege of the Bihar CM, when he started his political career.

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