On Engineers' Day, JD(U) ministers hail CM Nitish for reconstructing Bihar

Two Bihar ministers praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Engineers Day on Tuesday, saying that the Batchelor's degree holder in engineering has reconstructed the state in the last 15 years from a sorry condition he had inherited in 2005.

Irrigation Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha and Building Construction Minister Ashok Choudhary held a press conference here to highlight how Kumar rebuilt the state's infrastructure which laid in tatters before he had assumed power in the 2005 end.

In a tweet, the chief minister greeted people on the Engineers Day, observed in India on September 15, the birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya, one of the finest engineers of the country.

Jha, a close confidante of the chief minister, talked in detail about developmental works done under Kumar particularly in the infrastructural sectors such as road, electricity, drinking water and health.

Choudhary, who has switched over to the JD(U) from the Congress in 2017, said that the state was earlier known outside for all the wrong reasons - lawlessness, kidnapping, caste conflicts and lack of development.

"The state is proud to have an engineer chief minister who has reconstructed the state in the last 15 years," he said.

The JD(U) is fashioning its campaign for the upcoming assembly elections around 15 years of Kumar's rule versus a decade-and-half of the Lalu-Rabri government.

The RJD ruled Bihar from 1990 to 2005 under RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and then under his wife Rabri Devi.

In November 2005, the NDA threw the RJD out of power and since then Kumar has been occupying the chief minister's post except for a brief period when he had anointed Jitan Ram Manjhi on the chair after JD(U) had received severe drubbing in the 2014 general election.

Kumar graduated in electrical engineering from Bihar College of Engineering in 1973. The college later became National Institute of Technology, Patna.

After completing studies he had got employment as an Assistant Engineer in the Bihar State Electricity Board at Ranchi. However, his passion for politics kept him away from such a fixed commitment, books written on him said.