Shashi Tharoor lauds Bihar's infrastructure push: 'People & their representatives deserve credit...'

Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday lauded the progress in Bihar’s infrastructure under chief minister Nitish Kumar. The BJP, the Congress party’s chief rival at the national level, is allied with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in Bihar.

“No question that the infrastructure is so much better than I had heard before. The roads are better. People are out on streets even late at night, which was not always the case in the past. So far, the electricity seems to work, the water, everything else,” Tharoor was quoted by NDTV.

"I mean, very many good things have happened in recent years, no doubt," he added.

On being questioned about Nitish Kumar, the Congress MP struck a guarded note, "Don't get me into politics here. I am certainly very happy to see this progress. The people of Bihar and their representatives deserve credit."

The Congress has so far not reacted to his remarks praising the work of their rival.

A four-time MP, Tharoor is perceived to be on thin ice with the Congress central leadership after making several comments that appeared to praise the Prime Minister and the BJP in power.

He has previously praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in global diplomacy, as well as his handling of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, following which India launched Operation Sindoor targeting terror camps in Pakistan.

The Congress leader, who was in Bihar to attend the first Nalanda Literary Festival at the revived Nalanda University on Monday, flagged India's slipping global standing in university rankings and cautioned that "unrealistic global aspirations" cannot substitute for basic investments in schools and higher learning institutes.

"India no longer hosts any of the world's leading universities... While a few universities have now entered the top 200, none figure among the top 10 or even the top 50 worldwide," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.