PATNA: Fulfilling his promise, Bihar CM
Nitish Kumar on Saturday unveiled a life-size statue of former Union minister Arun Jaitley at park no-31 in
Kankarbagh area of the state capital here on occasion of latter’s birth anniversary.
As announced by the CM, the state government also observed Jaitley’s birth anniversary as a state function.
Jaitley’s wife Sangeeta, daughter
Sonali and son
Rohan Jaitley, who arrived here on invitation of the state government, were present at the statue unveiling event.
The CM presented a ‘mini statue’ of Arun Jaitley to his wife
Sangeeta as a mark of respect to the former union minister.
A few days after Jaitley’s demise at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (
AIIMS) in Delhi on August 24 this year, Nitish had announced that a statue of former union minister would be installed in the state capital. Then, the CM had also declared that Jaitley’s birth anniversary would be observed as a State function every year.
In a statement issued on the occasion, Nitish said Jaitley never got distracted even in adverse circumstances. He used to speak his mind always in a jovial mood. “Though Jaitley was not a native of Bihar, he had special connection with this state. He had great respect for people of Bihar. We cannot forget whatever cooperation and assistance Jaitley provided to Bihar,” the CM said.
Nitish also said he had a personal rapport with Jaitley. “Our relation was above than the party and party-based politics. We used to meet frequently. During our meeting, we used to hold deep discussion on different issues related to development of the country and the state. As a union minister, Jaitley did several special works for Bihar. He always had a liberal attitude for Bihar and its people. Jaitley had also provided important assistance in framing of new rules for the appointment of Lokyukta in Bihar. We will always remember him,” Bihar CM said.
“The Jaitley’s statue, which was unveiled today, was a mark of respect to him from the people of Bihar,” Nitish said.
Other prominent personalities who were present during the statue unveiling event, were Patna high court’s chief justice Sanjay Karol and his spouse, Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, road construction minister
Nand Kishore Yadav, building construction minister Ashok Choudhary, water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, Sheohar MP Rama Devi, Rajya Sabha member CP Thakur, BJP MLAs
Arun Kumar Sinha, Sanjiv Chaurasia and Nitin Navin and JD(U) MLC Sanjay Kumar Singh alias Gandhi Ji and the building construction department’s principal secretary Chanchal Kumar.