At a time when the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government is facing trenchant criticism over the rising number of children deaths due to the suspected acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), questions are being asked about the silence of Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashvi Yadav too.
On Wednesday, when a reporter asked senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh where Tejashvi was, he first said he had little knowledge about former deputy chief minister's whereabouts.
Seconds later, Singh said, "The world cup is on, he might be out to watch the match," adding he wasn't sure, though.
At least 126 children have died in Bihar due to suspected AES, and the state and central governments are currently on their toes to control what is proving to be the worst epidemic in years.
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Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had visited Muzaffarpur, where maximum deaths have been reported two state-run hospitals.
Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and local MLA Suresh Sharma went inside the ICU to meet the patients before holding an impromptu review meeting with hospital authorities and other state Health Department officials.
In the meantime, scores of people gathered outside the hospital and started shouting "Nitish Kumar go back" slogans as they vent their anger over the chief minister visiting the area after the number of casualties had crossed the three-digit mark.
Speaking to journalists, they pointed out to a water tanker. "This is today's development. Things are being spruced up so that it makes a favourable impression on the chief minister," one of the protesters said. "Had the CM visited earlier, it would have made the officials concerned pull up their socks and many lives could have been saved."
