Rs 14,000 Cr WB Funds Diverted For Bihar Polls. Is JSP’s Claim True?

After losing the Bihar Assembly polls, the Jan Suraaj Party claimed that a huge amount of World Bank funds were diverted into the elections. Over Rs 14,000 crore out of a total Rs 21,000 crore linked to some other WB-funded project had been transferred into the 1.25 crore bank accounts of women voters, ahead of the polls, party spokesperson Pavan Verma said.

Verma blamed the timing of the Rs 10,000 payout to each of the women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana for shift in the political allegiance of electorate in Bihar. The transfer was made just an hour before the Model Code of Conduct came into force.

In an interview with a news agency, Verma said that the public debt in Bihar is now at Rs 4,06,000 crore. The interest over the debt per day is Rs 63 crore. The treasury is empty, he said.

However, he soon added the information about the diversion of the WB funds could be wrong. Union minister Chirag Paswan hit back at the JSP and questioned the credibility of the data.

“Where do they get this data from? If you have any facts, present it. The government will respond but don’t make empty claims,” he said.

In the same interview, Verma also rubbished buzz that JSP chief Prashant Kishor’s stand on lifting liquor ban dented the party’s fortune during the polls.