NEW DELHI: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday pleaded with a private company official to speed up a road project in the capital city Patna and even offered to touch his feet. His act evoked strong reaction from RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav who called him “helpless.”
“Kahiye to hum aapka pair chhu lete hain (I shall touch your feet if that is what you want),” Nitish Kumar said.
As Nitish walked towards the official with folded hands, the official said, “Sir please don’t do this.”
It came during an event where a section of the “JP Ganga Path,” an expressway built along the river to alleviate city traffic, was inaugurated for public use.
This is not the first time that Bihar CM has made such a request. Last week, he had offered to touch a senior IAS officer’s feet, urging swift resolution of land disputes through comprehensive surveys. Kumar had said that conflicts over land holdings were a major catalyst for violent crimes in the state.

‘When ruler lacks self-confidence … ‘: Tejashwi takes dig at Nitish

Sharing a compilation of Nitish Kumar requesting officials to speed up infrastructural work in the state, Tejashwi Yadav said, “When the credibility of governance is lost and the ruler lacks self-confidence, then he has to put aside principles, conscience and ideas and bow down to everyone from top to bottom. However, we are not worried about the chair but about the present and future of Bihar and 14 crore Biharis.”
He called the chief minister “helpless, weak, invalid, incapable, constrained, powerless, powerless and compelled”.
“Will there be any Chief Minister in the whole world who is so helpless, weak, invalid, incapable, constrained, powerless, powerless and compelled that he talks about folding hands and touching the feet of everyone from BDO, SDO, Police Station Officer to senior officers and even the personal staff of the contractor for every small matter?”, he said.
“The main reason for increasing crime, rampant corruption, migration and administrative anarchy in Bihar is that not even an employee (leave alone an officer) listens to the Chief Minister. Why does he not listen and why does he not follow the orders is a matter worth thinking about. However, the employees and officers are not much at fault in this,” he added.