Patna, March 3: Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Monday staged a protest outside the state legislative council (Vidhan Parishad), demanding affordable cooking gas, free electricity, and enhanced social security measures for women.
Rabri Devi, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and current Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council, held the demonstration alongside party colleagues just hours before the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government was set to present its budget in the assembly.
Highlighting her key demands, Rabri Devi said, "The government must provide poor women with a monthly stipend of ₹2,500. Cooking gas should be subsidised further, reducing the price to ₹500 per cylinder from the current rate of ₹1,200."
She further pressed the government to ensure 200 units of free electricity per month to relieve economic pressure on households. "We will continue to pressurize the ruling party to accept these demands," she affirmed.
The protest by Rabri Devi follows closely on the heels of a similar statement by her son and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. At a press conference on Sunday, Yadav, who leads the opposition in the Bihar assembly and serves as the face of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, had underscored similar demands. He warned that if the NDA administration does not introduce these welfare measures in its final budget before the upcoming state assembly elections later this year, "we will do the needful upon forming the next government in Bihar."
The opposition’s intensified efforts underline their strategic push on socio-economic issues ahead of Bihar's crucial assembly polls.