By Amresh Srivastava

Copyright deccanchronicle

New Delhi: As the battle for Bihar heats up, the ruling NDA government is doling out sop after sop to win over the voters, while the Opposition is sparing no efforts to attack chief minister Nitish Kumar’s government on issues like vote theft, unemployment, and the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. In the latest round of sops and attacks on Tuesday, Mr Kumar announced interest-free education loans for higher education and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav vowed to defeat the CM in the upcoming assembly polls for his “misgovernance”.The Bihar government announced that interest-free loans will be provided to students who passed the class 12 board examinations under the Student Credit Card scheme to help them pursue higher education.The scheme, launched on October 2, 2016, under the “7 Nishchay Yojana”, was designed to provide education loans up to Rs 4 lakhs for students who passed Class 12 and seek to pursue higher studies. Now, the loan will be interest-free for all applicants,” Kumar said in a post on X. He said the provision for repaying a loan of up to Rs 2 lakhs in 60 monthly instalments has now been extended to a maximum of 84 monthly instalments.”For loans above Rs 2 lakhs, the repayment period has been extended from 84 monthly instalments to a maximum of 120 monthly instalments,” the CM said, adding that the objective of his government is to ensure that students can pursue higher education.Mr Kumar said these decisions will boost the morale of students, enabling them to pursue higher education with greater enthusiasm and dedication, thereby shaping not only their own future but also the future of the state and the country. Earlier, education loans of up to Rs 4 lakh were provided at an interest rate of 4 per cent to general male applicants and 1 per cent to female, differently-abled, and transgender applicants.In a bid to corner the Nitish government ahead of the impending Assembly polls, Yadav on Tuesday launched a “Bihar Adhikar Yatra” with back-to-back rallies in Patna and Jehanabad districts, besides Nalanda, the home turf of the CM, whom he vowed to defeat in the elections.The RJD leader, who addressed five rallies on Tuesday, said, “Wherever I go, the crowds chant the slogan ‘do hazaar paanch se pachis bahut hua Nitish’ (we have had enough of Nitish Kumar from 2005-25).”Mocking Kumar for telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Purnea on Monday that “I may have gone hither and thither on one or two occasions, but I shall now ever remain a BJP ally.” The RJD leader claimed: “I have been saying this for long — Nitish Ji is no longer in his senses. If he keeps repeating the same thing again and again, it only shows he is not sure of himself.”The 35-year-old RJD MLA, however, reiterated the view that if Mr Kumar’s son Nishant agreed to enter politics, it might “save the JD(U), which, like our party, has roots in the socialist movement, from getting completely hijacked by the BJP”.Yadav also bristled at the NDA’s constant gripe that while in power, the RJD had promoted “jungle raj (lawlessness)”. “What have they been doing in 20 years of their rule? Only yesterday I intervened to get a case lodged against a BJP minister for abusing and manhandling a journalist. Is it not jungle raj?” he asked.”So many bizarre things have happened in the recent past. Thousands of litres of liquor, confiscated in the name of enforcing prohibition, have vanished. People in hospitals have got their eyes gouged out. No action has been taken. All those who know me are aware of my emphasis on discipline. If I come to power, the lack of accountability will be brought to an end,” Yadav claimed.Earlier in the day while leaving for Jahanabad, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly was asked to comment on Modi’s speech at a rally in Purnea a day ago, wherein the Opposition party was charged with “shielding and defending” infiltrators, Yadav said, “Let us, for a moment, assume that there are infiltrators in Bihar. Then the question arises, what have you (the Modi government) been doing all along? You have been in power for 11 years. Besides, you (the BJP-led NDA) have been ruling the state for 20 years and they have not been able to identify a single infiltrator in Bihar.””I must point out that it is a bogey they had similarly raised in Jharkhand last year when the Assembly polls were underway there. Now they have forgotten about that,” Mr Yadav claimed.The former Deputy CM alleged: “The issue of infiltration is raised as diversionary tactics. The NDA realises its failure in providing good governance, ensuring that people had jobs, education, health care and their grievances were quickly and effectively redressed.”Meanwhile, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar dismissed allegations that the “separate” yatra of Mr Yadav, who had accompanied Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the fortnight-long “Voter Adhikar Yatra”, indicates strained relations between the two parties. “We are alliance partners…