Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has set his agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Kumar pitched for regularisation that Purvanchali population living in the capital’s unauthorised colonies has no access to drinking water and drainage.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has set his agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Kumar pitched for regularisation that Purvanchali population living in the capital’s unauthorised colonies has no access to drinking water and drainage. PM Modi also called for a total prohibition of alcohol in the country. “There are around 30 lakh people living in 1,642 unauthorised colonies in Delhi who do not have access to clean drinking water, proper roads and drainage system. We will push for regularisation,” CM Kumar said while addressing a meeting of party workers at Talkatora stadium in Delhi. CM Kumar also claimed that there was a time when a Bihar’s reputation was ‘not very good outside the state’. Now, he said, many Biharis are working in different sectors. ‘If Biharis stop working for a day, Delhi will come to standstill,’ the CM said, underlining the contribution of migrants from his state and how Purvanchalis have become a major vote bank.

Earlier this year, JD(U) candidates had contested on 11 seats during the MCD polls but lost. JD(U) Delhi unit president Narsingh Shah said the party’s main aim is regularisation of over 1,600 unauthorised colonies, if it comes to power. He also hit out at the Congress and the AAP for failing to fulfil their promise to regularise these colonies where the living condition is ‘very pathetic’.

Notably, Kumar had earlier sidestepped questions about strain in his relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the latter rejected his plea for central university status for Patna University, saying people were free to draw their own conclusions. “Media and people are free to draw their own conclusions. I have nothing to say on this,” Kumar had at an event to celebrate 100 years of the Patna University. Kumar had sought central university status for it in keeping with public sentiments.

However, responding to Kumar’s plea, PM Modi, who promised Rs 10,000 crore and autonomy to 20 universities — 10 public 10 and private — to enable them to compete globally, said, “I have come here with an invitation to PU and all universities of India to take up the challenge. It is much bigger than what central university status can offer.”

The Bihar government had already set a deadline of March, 2019 to make the districts free from open defecation. The government has also set a target of making 4,555 gram panchayats open defecation free by the end of the current financial year 2017-18. During the review meeting of ‘Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan’, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asked officials to speed up the process of achieving the target.